Mortality and ionising radiation exposures among workers employed at the Fernald Feed Materials Production Center (1951-1985)

Details

• Personal Author:
  Anderson, Jeri L. ; Bertke SJ ; Daniels, Robert D. ; Fleming DA ; Hein, Misty J. ; Hornung, Richard W. ; Pinney SM ; Silver, Sharon R. ; Tseng C-Y
• Description:
  OBJECTIVES: To examine mortality patterns and dose-response relations between ionising radiation and mortality outcomes of a priori interest in 6409 uranium workers employed for at least 30 days (1951-1985), and followed through 2004. METHODS: Cohort mortality was evaluated through standardised mortality ratios (SMR). Linear excess relative risk (ERR) regression models examined associations between cause-specific mortality and exposures to internal ionising radiation from uranium deposition, external gamma and x-ray radiation, and radon decay products, while adjusting for non-radiologic covariates. RESULTS: Person-years at risk totalled 236,568 (mean follow-up 37 years), and 43% of the cohort had died. All-cause mortality was below expectation only in salaried workers. Cancer mortality was significantly elevated in hourly males, primarily from excess lung cancer (SMR=1.25, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.42). Cancer mortality in salaried males was near expectation, but lymphohaematopoietic malignancies were significantly elevated (SMR=1.52, 95% CI 1.06 to 2.12). A positive dose-response relation was observed for intestinal cancer, with a significant elevation in the highest internal organ dose category and a significant dose-response with organ dose from internal uranium deposition (ERR=1.5 per 100 microGy, 95% CI 0.12 to 4.1). CONCLUSIONS: A healthy worker effect was observed only in salaried workers. Hourly workers had excess cancer mortality compared with the US population, although there was little evidence of a dose-response trend for any cancer evaluated except intestinal cancer. The association between non-malignant respiratory disease and radiation dose observed in previous studies was not apparent, possibly due to improved exposure assessment, different outcome groupings, and extended follow-up. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Environmental Monitoring Epidemiology Lung Lung Diseases Men Mortality Neoplasms Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Radiation Radiography Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Risk Assessment Safety Uranium

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• Keywords:
  Cancer Cancer-rates Dose-response Employee-exposure Employee-health Exposure-assessment Gamma-radiation Intestinal-cancer Ionizing-radiation Lung-cancer Lymphatic-cancer Malignancy Mathematical-models Mortality-data Mortality-rates Radiation-exposure Radiation-facilities Risk-analysis Uranium-compounds Worker-health X-ray-absorption

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• ISSN:
  1351-0711
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  453-463
• Volume:
  70
• Issue:
  7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20042062
• Citation:
  Occup Environ Med 2013 Jul; 70(7):453-463
• Contact Point Address:
  Sharon R Silver, Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, IWSB, 4676 Columbia Parkway, Mailstop R-15, Cincinnati, OH 45226, USA
• Email:
  zre4@cdc.gov
• CAS Registry Number:
  Uranium (CAS RN 7440-61-1)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• NORA Priority Area:
  Manufacturing
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b14237317d288adb6d3048cc1421467beadd6698f5e47e8b9dfe74711923e0f9236da2a706e6c7d86c89c2d392e658466517dcd6b16214ebd09108df5ad45969
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/194412/cdc_194412_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 357.69 KB ]