Thyroid cancer risk in Belarus among children and adolescents exposed to radioiodine after the Chornobyl accident.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-4-2011

Comments

This article has been peer reviewed. It was published in: British Journal of Cancer.

Volume 104, Issue 1, January 2011, Pages 181-187.

The published version is available at DOI: 10.1038/sj.bjc.6605967. Copyright © Nature

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Previous studies showed an increased risk of thyroid cancer among children and adolescents exposed to radioactive iodines released after the Chornobyl (Chernobyl) accident, but the effects of screening, iodine deficiency, age at exposure and other factors on the dose-response are poorly understood.

METHODS: We screened 11 970 individuals in Belarus aged 18 years or younger at the time of the accident who had estimated (131)I thyroid doses based on individual thyroid activity measurements and dosimetric data from questionnaires. The excess odds ratio per gray (EOR/Gy) was modelled using linear and linear-exponential functions.

RESULTS: For thyroid doses <5 >Gy, the dose-response was linear (n=85; EOR/Gy=2.15, 95% confidence interval: 0.81-5.47), but at higher doses the excess risk fell. The EOR/Gy was significantly increased among those with prior or screening-detected diffuse goiter, and larger for men than women, and for persons exposed before age 5 than those exposed between 5 and 18 years, although not statistically significant. A somewhat higher EOR/Gy was estimated for validated pre-screening cases.

CONCLUSION: 10-15 years after the Chornobyl accident, thyroid cancer risk was significantly increased among individuals exposed to fallout as children or adolescents, but the risk appeared to be lower than in other Chornobyl studies and studies of childhood external irradiation.

PubMed ID

21102590

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS