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RADON EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT AND DOSIMETRY APPLIED TO EPIDEMIOLOGY AND RISK ESTIMATION
Citation:
PUSKIN, J. AND A. C. JAMES. RADON EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT AND DOSIMETRY APPLIED TO EPIDEMIOLOGY AND RISK ESTIMATION. RADIATION RESEARCH. Radiation Research Society, Great Falls, VA, (166):193-208, (2006).
Impact/Purpose:
To examine radon exposure assessment and dosimetry applied to epidemiology and risk estimation
Description:
Epidemiological studies of underground miners provide the primary basis for radon risk estimates for indoor exposures as well as mine exposures. A major source of uncertainty in these risk estimates is the uncertainty in radon progeny exposure estimates for the miners. In addition, doses from gamma radiation, inhaled radioactive dust, and thoron progeny have historically been neglected. A recent comparative assessment of exposure conditions indicates that, for equal radon progeny exposures, the doses in homes is about the same as in mines. Thus, neglecting other possible differences, such as the presence in mines of other potential airborne carcinogens, the risk per unit progeny exposure should be about the same for indoor exposures as observed in miners. Discussions of exposure units and measurements, exposure estimates for miner cohorts, estimates of radon risk based on analysis of miner cohort data, dosimetry of radon progeny n the respiratory tract, extrapolation of risk estimates from mines to homes based on comparative dosimetry, and exposure estimates for residual studies are provided.