American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 153, No. 1 : 42-52
Copyright © 2001 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health
ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS |
Case-Control Study on Lung Cancer and Residential Radon in Western Germany
1 Institute of Epidemiology, GSF-National Research Center for Environment and Health, Neuherberg, Federal Republic of Germany.
2 Department of Labour Safety and Environmental Medicine, University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Federal Republic of Germany.
3 Biophysics Unit, Saar University Homburg, Homburg, Federal Republic of Germany.
4 Department of Epidemiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Federal Republic of Germany.
5 Present address: Institute for Biometry, Epidemiology and Information Processing, Hannover School of Veterinary Medicine, Hannover, Federal Republic of Germany.
6 Present address: Federal Office of Radiation Protection, Institute of Radiation Hygiene, Neuherberg, Federal Republic of Germany.
In a 1990–1996 case-control study in western Germany, the authors investigated lung cancer risk due to exposure to residential radon. Confirmed lung cancer cases from hospitals and a random sample of community controls were interviewed by trained interviewers regarding different risk factors. For 1 year, alpha track detectors were placed in dwellings to measure radon gas concentrations. The evaluation included 1,449 cases and 2,297 controls recruited from the entire study area and a subsample of 365 cases and 595 controls from radon-prone areas of the basic study region. Rate ratios were estimated by using conditional logistic regression adjusted for smoking and for asbestos exposure. In the entire study area, no rate ratios different from 1.0 were found; in the radon-prone areas, the adjusted rate ratios for exposure in the present dwelling were 1.59 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.08, 2.27), 1.93 (95% CI: 1.19, 3.13), and 1.93 (95% CI: 0.99, 3.77) for 50–80, 80–140, and >140 Bq/m3, respectively, compared with 0–50 Bq/m3. The excess rate ratio for an increase of 100 Bq/m3 was 0.13 (-0.12 to 0.46). An analysis based on cumulative exposure produced similar results. The results provide additional evidence that residential radon is a risk factor for lung cancer, although a risk was detected in radon-prone areas only, not in the entire study area.
case-control studies; lung neoplasms; radon; smoking
Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; SSNTD, solid-state nuclear track detector.
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