Research report
Childhood leukaemia in areas with different radon levels: a
spatial and temporal analysis using GIS
S Kohlia b, H Noorlind Bragec, O Löfmanc
a Department of
Medical Informatics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Public Health Centre,
University Hospital, S-581 85, Linköping, Sweden, b Department of General Practice, Faculty of
Health Sciences, Public Health Centre, University Hospital, c Department of Community and Environmental
Medicine, Public Health Centre, University Hospital
Correspondence to: Dr Löfman (owe.lofman{at}lio.se)
Accepted for publication 25 May 2000
OBJECTIVES
To evaluate
the relation between exposure to ground radon levels and leukaemia
among children using existing population and disease registers.
DESIGNEcological
correlation study.
SETTINGThe county of
Östergötland in Sweden.
METHODSEvery child
born in the county between 1979 and 1992 was mapped to the property
centroid coordinates by linking addresses in the population and
property registers. Population maps were overlaid with radon maps and
exposure at birth and each subsequent year was quantified as high,
normal, low or unknown. This was analysed with data from the tumour
registry. Standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated using
the age and sex specific rates for Sweden for the year 1995.
RESULTS90
malignancies occurred among 53 146 children (498 887 person years)
who formed the study population. SMRs for acute lymphatic leukaemia
(ALL) among children born in high, normal and low risk areas were 1.43, 1.17 and 0.25 respectively. The relative risk for the normal risk group
and high risk group as compared with the low risk group was 4.64 (95%
CI 1.29, 28.26) and 5.67 (95% CI 1.06, 42.27). The association between
ALL and continued residence at normal or high risk areas showed a
similar trend. No association between radon risk levels and any other
malignancy was seen.
CONCLUSIONChildren
born in and staying at areas where the risk from ground radon has been
classified as low are less likely to develop ALL than those born in
areas classified as normal and high risk.
Keywords: leukaemia; cancer; radon; ionising radiation; Geographic Information Systems
© 2000 by Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
Raaschou-Nielsen, O.
(2008). Indoor radon and childhood leukaemia. Radiat Prot Dosimetry
132: 175-181
[Abstract] [Full Text] -
Andersen, C. E., Raaschou-Nielsen, O., Andersen, H. P., Lind, M., Gravesen, P., Thomsen, B. L., Ulbak, K.
(2007). Prediction of 222Rn in Danish dwellings using geology and house construction information from central databases. Radiat Prot Dosimetry
123: 83-94
[Abstract] [Full Text] -
Samuelsson, U, Lofman, O
(2004). Geographical mapping of type 1 diabetes in children and adolescents in south east Sweden. J. Epidemiol. Community Health
58: 388-392
[Abstract] [Full Text] -
Wyatt, J C, Liu, J L Y
(2002). Basic concepts in medical informatics. J. Epidemiol. Community Health
56: 808-812
[Abstract] [Full Text]
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- Citation Map
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
