WORKSHOP EXPLORES LOW-DOSE RADIATION EPIDEMIOLOGY

In December, DCEG investigators participated in the workshop “Low dose radiation epidemiology: What can it tell us?” held in Bethesda. The workshop was sponsored by the Office of Science in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and organized by Dr. Scott Davis of the University of Washington, Dr. Eric Hall of Columbia University, Dr. Noelle Metting of DOE, Dr. Jerome Puskin of the Environmental Protection Agency, and Elaine Ron, Ph.D., M.P.H., Radiation Epidemiology Branch (REB). The goal of the workshop was to discuss the value of current epidemiologic data in learning about cancer and other health risks among populations exposed to low-dose or low-dose–rate radiation.

On the first day, investigators summarized relevant epidemiologic studies. Kiyohiko Mabuchi, M.D., Dr.P.H. (REB), and Dr. Dale Preston of Hirosoft International Corporation presented recent data from the Life Span Study of atomic bomb survivors in Japan; Martha S. Linet, M.D., M.P.H. (Chief of REB), and Alice J. Sigurdson, Ph.D. (REB), summarized data from a large cohort of U.S. radiological technologists exposed to occupational radiation; Dr. Ron, Amy Berrington de Gonzalez, D.Phil. (REB), and Dr. David Brenner of Columbia University discussed the large ongoing cohort study of cancer risk among children receiving computed tomography scans in the United Kingdom and efforts to conduct similar studies in other parts of the world; Dr. Preston, Ethel S. Gilbert, Ph.D. (REB), and Dr. Ron described ongoing research on health effects related to internal and external radiation exposure among Mayak nuclear workers in Russia; and Dr. Gilbert and others discussed the International Agency for Research on Cancer’s 15-country study of nuclear workers. Additional presentations covered studies among a cohort of people exposed to environmental radiation from the Techa River in the Southern Urals, Russia; data from the U.S. Shipyard Worker study; and current investigations of the large DOE workforce of radiation workers. The final session of the day was devoted to studies of man-made and natural areas of high-background radiation.

On the second day of the workshop, Jay H. Lubin, Ph.D., Biostatistics Branch, and REB investigators Parveen Bhatti, Ph.D., M.S., Charles E. Land, Ph.D., and Drs. Gilbert, Linet, Mabuchi, Ron, and Sigurdson participated in panels discussing what could be learned from ongoing studies, the value of updating or expanding current studies, the possible need for new studies, the potential gain from pooling existing studies, and the integration of molecular technologies in epidemiologic studies.

—Elaine Ron, Ph.D., M.P.H.