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Uncertainties in Radiation Dosimetry and their Impact on Dose-Response Analyses (1997 and 2009 Workshops)

1997 Workshop

This workshop was designed to examine different approaches for handling varied error structures in studies of irradiated populations. Sessions were devoted to patients treated with radiation, the atomic bomb survivors, nuclear workers, underground miners, and persons exposed to indoor radon, nuclear bomb testing or nuclear accidents. The invited speakers include national and international experts in the disciplines of biostatistics and epidemiology, health physics, internal and external dosimetry, and exposure pathways modeling. Some of the key questions addressed by this inter-disciplinary group were:

  1. What are the most appropriate procedures for incorporating uncertainty in dose estimates into dose-response analyses?
  2. What level of uncertainty in dose is acceptable for determining a defensible estimate of a true underlying dose-response?
  3. How should various error structures be handled (e.g. mixtures of Berkson and classical measurement errors, mixtures of dosimetry uncertainties that are independent versus among members of an exposed cohort, and error structures that vary from population to population)?
  4. How can the advantages and disadvantages of relatively small uncertainties in the average dose for a group of individuals under study be balanced against larger uncertainties in dose estimated for individual study objects?

For requests of a hard copy of the monograph, please contact the National Cancer Institute's Publications Ordering Service.

2009 NCI / NIAID Workshop

A follow-up workshop was held on May 8, 2009 in Washington D.C. For further information and presentations see http://www.senes.com/NCI.Dosimetry.html.