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  • Title: A cohort study of thyroid disease in relation to fallout from nuclear weapons testing.
    Author: Kerber RA, Till JE, Simon SL, Lyon JL, Thomas DC, Preston-Martin S, Rallison ML, Lloyd RD, Stevens W.
    Journal: JAMA; 1993 Nov 03; 270(17):2076-82. PubMed ID: 8411574.
    Abstract:
    OBJECTIVE: To estimate individual radiation doses and current thyroid disease status for a previously identified cohort of 4818 schoolchildren potentially exposed to fallout from detonations of nuclear devices at the Nevada Test Site between 1951 and 1958. DESIGN: Cohort analytic study. SETTING: Communities in southwestern Utah, southeastern Nevada, and southeastern Arizona. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals who were still residing in the three-state area (n = 3122) were reexamined in 1985 and 1986, and information on the subjects' and their mothers' milk and vegetable consumption during the fallout period was obtained by telephone interview (n = 3545). After exclusions to eliminate missing data and confounding factors, 2473 subjects were available for analysis. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Individual radiation doses to the thyroid were estimated by combining consumption data with radionuclide deposition rates provided by the US Department of Energy and a survey of milk producers. Relative risk models adjusted for age, sex, and state were fitted using maximum likelihood to period prevalence data for thyroid carcinomas, neoplasms, and nodules. RESULTS: Doses ranged from 0 mGy to 4600 mGy, and averaged 170 mGy in Utah. There was a statistically significant excess of thyroid neoplasms (benign and malignant; n = 19), with an increase in excess relative risk of 0.7% per milligray. A relative risk for thyroid neoplasms of 3.4 was observed among 169 subjects exposed to doses greater than 400 mGy. Positive but nonsignificant dose-response slopes were found for carcinomas and nodules. CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to Nevada Test Site-generated radioiodines was associated with an excess of thyroid neoplasms. The conclusions are limited by the small number of exposed individuals and the low incidence of thyroid neoplasms.
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