Susceptibility and Occupational Radiation Risks

Details

• Personal Author:
  Richardson DB ; Wing SB ; Wolf SH
• Description:
  We created a roster of approximately 24,000 Savannah River Site workers (SRS) by merging and resolving duplicate information from electronic files from the Center for Epidemiologic Research, Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) and from NIOSH files of SRS employment records. We submitted the roster to the Social Security Administration for a search of vital status through 12/31/2002. For decedents, we obtained cause of death information from death certificates and (for more recent decedents) from the National Death Index. Hardcopy employment history records were obtained and entered into an electronic data base in order to create a detailed work history file describing job titles and dates of employment. Job title information was coded into major groups. Information on annual assignments to health physics areas and departments was abstracted from quarterly printouts of dosimetry logbooks. We created an electronic file of annual external radiation dose estimates for these SRS workers by merging, and reconciling, information from the SRS HPAREH system (for workers employed in 1979 or later), information from an electronic dosimetry file created by DuPont (for workers terminated prior to 1979), and information abstracted by ORAU. We compared the computerized radiation dosimetry records from the Site to employment records on a year by year basis, and found that approximately 14,000 annual dosimetry records in the hardcopy logbooks were missing from the computerized dose files. Once identified, these records were abstracted, and added about 1.7 person-Sv of recorded dose. We standardized health physics areas and health physics departments into major categories, and, in conjunction with standardized job title information, developed the structure for a job exposure matrix. Building upon prior work, we assessed select non-radiological hazards. We enumerated a study cohort of 18,883 operations workers hired between 1950 and 1986, employed for at least 3 months, and not employed at another USDOE facility. As of 2002, 31% of the 15,264 men had died and 11% of the 3619 women had died. The total number of deaths was less than expected (SMR=0.8); 7 workers, all men, died due to pleural cancer SMR=4.25 (90CI: 1.99, 7.97) and there were 68 deaths due to leukemia among male workers (SMR=1.2). There was a positive association between a worker's recorded radiation dose and risk of death due to leukemia. (ERR/10 mSv=0.04). The association was largest for deaths due to myeloid forms of leukemia (ERR/10 mSv=0.12) and those exposures received 3-15 years prior to death were most strongly related to risk of leukemia. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Environmental Monitoring Epidemiology Mortality Neoplasms Occupational Health Radiation Radiation Dosimeters Radiation Injuries Safety
• Keywords:
  Biological-effects Cancer Cancer-rates Dose-response Dosimetry Exposure-assessment Exposure-levels Mathematical-models Mortality-data Mortality-rates Radiation-exposure Radiation-injury Statistical-analysis

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• Series:
  Grant Final Reports
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Final Grant Report
• Place as Subject:
  North Carolina ; OSHA Region 4
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OEP - Office of Extramural Programs
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20038548
• Citation:
  Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, R01-OH-007871, 2009 Jan; :1-4
• Contact Point Address:
  David Richardson, Department of Epidemiology, McGavran-Greenberg Hall, School of Public Health, CB#7435 University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7435
• Email:
  david.richardson@unc.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• NORA Priority Area:
  Research Tools and Approaches: Cancer Research Methods
• Performing Organization:
  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20020930
• Source Full Name:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• End Date:
  20060929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:62a8aca14d28faafaf304207f885053b75c0bf7d6b9837228acdd2a150832213b3daadd98253bdec5ebc168a2e19d3c33c72eaf45cfef7984c6da87f7bd31e52
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/218410/cdc_218410_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.27 MB ]