Radiation Research

Our medical research library holds 6 studies published in Radiation Research (2005–2025). Each entry links to the study's record on PubMed and, where there is one, to the publisher's page and a free full text. 6 have an abstract, the authors' own summary as PubMed records it: open "Abstract" to read it.

About the journal

• Publisher: Radiation Research Society
• Published: 1954 to the present, United States
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0033-7587 (print), 1938-5404 (electronic)
• Its record in the NLM Catalog

2020s

• Cancer Mortality after Protracted Low-level Radiation Exposure for Early and Contemporary Workers in Two Large Occupational Cohorts in the U.S. Million Person Study. L. Walsh, S.S. Cohen, L.T. Dauer, et al. 2025;204(5):529-536. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  An evaluation is presented of differences in radiation-related solid cancer mortality risk for early versus contemporary sub-groups of radiation workers in both of the two constituent Million Person Study (MPS) cohorts. The two previously analyzed MPS cohorts are 123,401 industrial radiographers monitored from 1939-2011 and followed through 2019 and 135,193 nuclear power plant workers monitored from 1957-1984 and followed through 2011. The rationale behind this extended new analysis is to investigate if these two MPS cohorts support recently published increased risks for contemporary workers in a different cohort, The International Nuclear Workers Study (INWORKS) with pooled U.S., French and UK nuclear worker data, particularly for the U.S. component. The US-INWORKS contributed about one-third of the workers to the full-INWORKS study based on 309,932 workers. For all solid cancer mortality, the US-INWORKS study reported a low and non-significant excess relative risk (ERR) per Sv cumulative equivalent dose for the whole cohort of 0.19 (95% CI: -0.10; 0.52), whereas for contemporary workers the ERR per Sv was 2.23 (95% CI: 1.13, 3.49), approximately 10 times higher than the entire US-INWORKS cohort. The risk for the full INWORKS cohort was 0.52 (90% CI: 0.27; 0.77) per Gy colon dose whereas, for contemporary workers, the risk was 1.44 (90% CI: 0.65, 2.32), nearly 3 times higher. These risks for contemporary workers are both larger than risks informing radiation protection and much higher (7.0 and 4.5 times) than the Japanese A-bomb survivor's risk for males exposed acutely between the ages of 20 and 60 years of 0.32 (95% CI: 0.01; 0.50). Limitations include missing information on organ doses from radionuclide intake, neutrons and the absence of adjustment for non-radiation risk factors (notably asbestos exposure). The analysis of the MPS cohorts addresses these dosimetric- and asbestos-related limitations. For all solid cancer mortality, industrial radiographers showed equal Poisson ERRs per 100 mGy colon dose for early and contemporary workers: 0.06 (95% CI: 0.00; 0.12) and 0.07 (95% CI: 0.01; 0.13), respectively. The results for nuclear power plant workers were 0.10 (95% CI: -0.09; 0.29) and 0.02 (95% CI: -0.02; 0.06), respectively. It appears premature to conclude that there is generally a difference in excess risk between early and contemporary workers from radiation exposures.

  © 2025 by Radiation Research Society. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

2010s

• Cancer Mortality through 2005 among a Pooled Cohort of U.S. Nuclear Workers Exposed to External Ionizing Radiation. M.K. Schubauer-Berigan, R.D. Daniels, S.J. Bertke, et al. 2015;183(6):620-31. PubMed · Publisher

  Abstract

  Unlabelled: Nuclear workers worldwide have been studied for decades to estimate associations between their exposure to ionizing radiation and cancer. The low-level exposure of these workers requires pooling of large cohorts studied over many years to obtain risk estimates with appropriate latency and good precision. We assembled a pooled cohort of 119,195 U.S. nuclear workers at four Department of Energy nuclear weapons facilities (Hanford site, Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Savannah River site) and at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. The cohort was followed at the start of the workers beginning their radiation work (at earliest, between 1944 and 1952) through 2005, and we compared its mortality to that of the U.S.

  Population: We also conducted regression-modeling analysis to evaluate dose-response associations for external radiation exposure and outcomes: all cancers, smoking- and nonsmoking-related cancers, all lymphatic and hematopoietic cancers, leukemia (excluding chronic lymphocytic), multiple myeloma, cardiovascular disease and others. The mean dose observed among the cohort was 20 mSv. For most outcomes, mortality was below expectation compared to the general population, but mesothelioma and pleura cancers were highly elevated. We found an excess relative risk (ERR) per 10 mSv of 0.14% [95% confidence interval (CI): -0.17%, 0.48%] for all cancers excluding leukemia. Estimates were higher for nonsmoking-related cancers (0.70%, 95% CI: 0.058%, 1.5%) and lower for smoking-related cancers (-0.079%, 95% CI: -0.43%, 0.32%). The ERR per 10 mSv was 1.7% (95% CI: -0.22%, 4.7%) for leukemia, which was similar to the estimate of 1.8% (95% CI: 0.027%, 4.4%) for all lymphatic and hematopoietic cancers. The ERR per 10 mSv for multiple myeloma was 3.9% (95% CI: 0.60%, 9.5%). The ERR per 10 mSv for cardiovascular disease was 0.026% (-0.25%, 0.32%). Little evidence of heterogeneity was seen by facility, birth cohort or sex for most outcomes. The estimates observed here are similar to those found in previous large pooled nuclear worker studies and also (with the exception of multiple myeloma) to those conducted in the Life Span Study of Japanese atomic bomb survivors. The tendency of observed risks to persist many years after exposure for most outcomes illustrates the importance of continued follow-up of nuclear worker cohorts.

• Solid cancer mortality associated with chronic external radiation exposure at the French atomic energy commission and nuclear fuel company. C. Metz-Flamant, E. Samson, S. Caër-Lorho, et al. 2011;176(1):115-27. PubMed · Publisher

  Abstract

  Studies of nuclear workers make it possible to directly quantify the risks associated with ionizing radiation exposure at low doses and low dose rates. Studies of the CEA (Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique) and AREVA Nuclear Cycle (AREVA NC) cohort, currently the most informative such group in France, describe the long-term risk to nuclear workers associated with external exposure. Our aim is to assess the risk of mortality from solid cancers among CEA and AREVA NC nuclear workers and its association with external radiation exposure. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated and internal Poisson regressions were conducted, controlling for the main confounding factors [sex, attained age, calendar period, company and socioeconomic status (SES)]. During the period 1968-2004, there were 2,035 solid cancers among the 36,769 CEA-AREVA NC workers. Cumulative external radiation exposure was assessed for the period 1950-2004, and the mean cumulative dose was 12.1 mSv. Mortality rates for all causes and all solid cancers were both significantly lower in this cohort than in the general population. A significant excess of deaths from pleural cancer, not associated with cumulative external dose, was observed, probably due to past asbestos exposure. We observed a significant excess of melanoma, also unassociated with dose. Although cumulative external dose was not associated with mortality from all solid cancers, the central estimated excess relative risk (ERR) per Sv of 0.46 for solid cancer mortality was higher than the 0.26 calculated for male Hiroshima and Nagasaki A-bomb survivors 50 years or older and exposed at the age of 30 years or older. The modification of our results after stratification for SES demonstrates the importance of this characteristic in occupational studies, because it makes it possible to take class-based lifestyle differences into account, at least partly. These results show the great potential of a further joint international study of nuclear workers, which should improve knowledge about the risks associated with chronic low doses and provide useful risk estimates for radiation protection.

2000s

• A nested case-control study of lung cancer risk and ionizing radiation exposure at the portsmouth naval shipyard. J.H. Yiin, S.R. Silver, R.D. Daniels, et al. 2007;168(3):341-8. PubMed · Publisher

  Abstract

  Results have been inconsistent between studies of lung cancer risk and ionizing radiation exposures among workers at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNS). The purpose of this nested case-control study was to evaluate the relationship between lung cancer risk and external ionizing radiation exposure while adjusting for potential confounders that included gender, radiation monitoring status, smoking habit surrogates (socioeconomic status and birth cohort), welding fumes and asbestos. By incidence density sampling, we age-matched 3,291 controls selected from a cohort of 37,853 civilian workers employed at PNS between 1952 and 1992 with 1,097 lung cancer deaths from among the same cohort. Analyses using conditional logistic regression were conducted in various model forms: log-linear (main), linear excess relative risk (ERR), and categorical. Lung cancer risk was positively associated with occupational dose (OR = 1.02 at 10 mSv; 95% CI 0.99- 1.04) but flattened after the inclusion of work-related medical X-ray doses (OR = 1.00; 95% CI 0.98-1.03) in multivariate analyses. Similar risk estimates were observed in the linear ERR model at 10 mSv of cumulative exposure with a 15-year lag.

• Lung fibrosis in plutonium workers. L.S. Newman, M.M. Mroz, A.J. Ruttenber. 2005;164(2):123-31. Case report PubMed · Publisher

  Abstract

  There have been few systematic studies of the non-malignant health effects of alpha-particle radiation in humans. Animal studies and a report on plutonium-exposed workers from Russia suggest an association between high doses to the lung from plutonium exposure and the development of fibrotic lung disease. Prompted by a case of lung fibrosis in a retired plutonium worker, we tested the hypothesis that plutonium inhalation increases the risk for developing chest radiograph abnormalities consistent with pulmonary fibrosis. We conducted a retrospective study of nuclear weapons workers that included estimating absorbed doses to the lung with an internal dosimetry model. Our study population consisted of 326 plutonium-exposed workers with absorbed lung doses from 0 to 28 Sv and 194 unexposed workers. We compared the severity of chest radiograph interstitial abnormalities between the two groups using the International Labour Organization profusion scoring system. There was a significantly higher proportion of abnormal profusion scores among plutonium-exposed workers (17.5%) than among unexposed workers (7.2%), P < 0.01. Lung doses of 10 Sv or greater conferred a 5.3-fold risk (95% CI 1.2-23.4) of having an abnormal chest X ray consistent with pulmonary fibrosis when compared with unexposed individuals after controlling for the effects of age, smoking and asbestos exposure. This study shows that plutonium may cause lung fibrosis in humans at absorbed lung doses above 10 Sv.

• Risk of lung cancer and leukemia from exposure to ionizing radiation and potential confounders among workers at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. J.H. Yiin, M.K. Schubauer-Berigan, S.R. Silver, et al. 2005;163(6):603-13. PubMed · Publisher

  Abstract

  Significantly elevated lung cancer deaths and statistically significantly positive linear trends between leukemia mortality and radiation exposure were reported in a previous analysis of Portsmouth Naval Shipyard workers. The purpose of this study was to conduct a modeling-based analysis that incorporates previously unanalyzed confounders in exploring the exposure-response relationship between cumulative external ionizing radiation exposure and mortality from these cancers among radiation-monitored workers in this cohort. The main analyses were carried out with Poisson regression fitted with maximum likelihood in linear excess relative risk models. Sensitivity analyses varying model components and using other regression models were conducted. The positive association between lung cancer risk and ionizing radiation observed previously was no longer present after adjusting for socioeconomic status (smoking surrogate) and welding fume and asbestos exposures. Excesses of leukemia were found to be positively, though not significantly, associated with external ionizing radiation, with or without including potential confounders. The estimated excess relative risk was 10.88% (95% CI -0.90%, 38.77%) per 10 mSv of radiation exposure, which was within the ranges of risk estimates in previous epidemiological studies (-4.1 to 19.0%). These results are limited by many factors and are subject to uncertainties of the exposure and confounder estimates.

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