Table 2.
HRs and 95% CIs for all-cause, cancer, and circulatory disease outcomes associated with ever vs. never worked with nuclear medicine procedures
| Outcome | Diagnostic radionuclide | Brachytherapy | Radioactive iodine therapy | Other radionuclide therapy | Any radionuclide procedure | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Events* | HR (95% CI)† | Events* | HR (95% CI)† | Events* | HR (95% CI)† | Events* | HR (95% CI)† | Events* | HR (95% CI)† | |
| Incidence | ||||||||||
| All cancer (exc. NMSC) | 544/2,865 | 0.91 (0.82–1.02) | 330/3,002 | 1.09 (0.96–1.23) | 494/2,810 | 1.05 (0.93–1.20) | 240/3,125 | 1.06 (0.90–1.25) | 909/2,333 | 0.98 (0.91–1.06) |
| Female breast | 191/1,121 | 0.93 (0.77–1.11) | 140/1,138 | 1.19 (0.99–1.43) | 187/1,085 | 1.03 (0.83–1.26) | 95/1,197 | 1.20 (0.92–1.55) | 343/904 | 1.03 (0.91–1.16) |
| Melanoma | 92/343 | 1.07 (0.81–1.42) | 43/384 | 1.05 (0.76–1.47) | 79/340 | 1.35 (0.96–1.90) | 39/391 | 1.06 (0.70–1.60) | 135/280 | 1.21 (0.99–1.49) |
| BCC | 325/1,622 | 0.98 (0.85–1.13) | 192/1,753 | 1.16 (0.99–1.35) | 270/1,676 | 0.95 (0.80–1.13) | 136/1,827 | 1.07 (0.86–1.34) | 266/523 | 0.96 (0.84–1.09) |
| SCC | 101/466 | 1.29 (1.01–1.66) | 53/509 | 1.08 (0.81–1.45) | 68/487 | 0.73 (0.53–1.02) | 30/531 | 0.84 (0.54–1.31) | 155/387 | 0.99 (0.82–1.19) |
| Thyroid | 21/107 | 0.95 (0.55–1.66) | 11/120 | 1.07 (0.56–2.03) | 18/112 | 1.39 (0.73–2.64) | 5/124 | 0.48 (0.17–1.32) | 37/86 | 1.16 (0.78–1.70) |
| Prostate | 69/260 | 1.12 (0.81–1.54) | 23/296 | 0.81 (0.52–1.26) | 44/274 | 0.72 (0.46–1.13) | 22/297 | 1.04 (0.60–1.83) | 88/228 | 0.83 (0.65–1.06) |
| Lung | 10/81 | 0.56 (0.26–1.22) | 13/78 | 1.42 (0.75–2.66) | 15/74 | 1.27 (0.61–2.63) | 7/83 | 1.20 (0.45–3.15) | 26/62 | 1.02 (0.64–1.61) |
| Colorectal | 33/184 | 0.88 (0.57–1.38) | 19/196 | 0.90 (0.55–1.47) | 31/176 | 1.16 (0.71–1.92) | 12/199 | 0.81 (0.40–1.62) | 60/140 | 1.04 (0.77–1.40) |
| Non-CLL leukemia | 1/23 | 0.29 (0.04–2.37) | 1/21 | 0.72 (0.10–5.46) | 1/20 | 0.88 (0.11–7.22) | 0/24 | n/a | 2/19 | 0.25 (0.06–1.09) |
| Stroke | 82/445 | 0.96 (0.72–1.27) | 60/451 | 1.27 (0.95–1.68) | 79/447 | 0.89 (0.65–1.24) | 35/479 | 1.03 (0.67–1.58) | 150/351 | 1.06 (0.88–1.29) |
| MI | 176/729 | 1.05 (0.86–1.28) | 104/771 | 1.37 (1.10–1.70) | 139/742 | 0.82 (0.63–1.06) | 78/814 | 1.24 (0.91–1.67) | 267/588 | 1.06 (0.92–1.23) |
| Mortality | ||||||||||
| All-cause | 852/4,821 | 0.99 (0.91–1.08) | 612/4,966 | 1.10 (1.00–1.20) | 892/4,767 | 1.05 (0.95–1.15) | 418/5,234 | 1.14 (1.01–1.30) | 1,586/3,794 | 1.13 (1.06–1.19) |
| All cancer (exc. NMSC) | 212/1,222 | 0.92 (0.77–1.10) | 164/1,242 | 1.20 (1.01–1.43) | 214/1,196 | 0.96 (0.79–1.16) | 102/1,311 | 1.13 (0.88–1.46) | 394/960 | 1.04 (0.92–1.17) |
| Brain | 6/55 | 0.50 (0.19–1.31) | 5/56 | 0.93 (0.36–2.44) | 8/53 | 1.24 (0.49–3.19) | 2/57 | 0.60 (0.12–2.95) | 14/43 | 0.79 (0.43–1.45) |
| Female breast | 13/112 | 0.87 (0.45–1.68) | 9/117 | 0.75 (0.37–1.52) | 10/115 | 0.40 (0.17–0.94) | 9/119 | 2.68 (1.10–6.51) | 25/95 | 0.72 (0.47–1.12) |
| Melanoma | 6/28 | 0.67 (0.23–1.99) | 6/26 | 1.92 (0.73–5.05) | 7/25 | 1.24 (0.38–4.00) | 3/27 | 1.26 (0.28–5.73) | 10/19 | 1.25 (0.58–2.69) |
| Prostate | 2/24 | 0.49 (0.09–2.58) | 3/22 | 1.66 (0.46–1.52) | 2/21 | 0.82 (0.14–4.87) | 1/25 | 0.80 (0.08–8.49) | 6/17 | 0.92 (0.36–2.33) |
| Lung | 66/326 | 1.01 (0.73–1.39) | 53/325 | 1.30 (0.95–1.78) | 74/306 | 1.24 (0.88–1.75) | 32/350 | 0.99 (0.63–1.56) | 127/234 | 1.37 (1.10–1.70) |
| Colorectal | 13/92 | 0.77 (0.39–1.54) | 11/92 | 1.14 (0.59–2.21) | 14/91 | 0.87 (0.41–1.85) | 7/98 | 1.26 (0.48–3.33) | 26/78 | 0.86 (0.55–1.34) |
| Non-CLL leukemia | 7/42 | 0.75 (0.28–1.99) | 6/44 | 1.21 (0.48–3.05) | 8/42 | 1.08 (0.38–3.07) | 3/44 | 1.05 (0.25–4.45) | 14/34 | 1.04 (0.55–1.94) |
| All circulatory diseases | 102/606 | 1.07 (0.83–1.38) | 73/635 | 1.08 (0.83–1.40) | 102/619 | 0.90 (0.68–1.19) | 48/675 | 1.30 (0.89–1.89) | 191/488 | 1.14 (0.96–1.35) |
| Stroke | 30/173 | 1.37 (0.87–2.17) | 18/182 | 0.87 (0.52–1.44) | 28/172 | 1.14 (0.69–1.87) | 7/192 | 0.50 (0.21–1.17) | 52/135 | 1.12 (0.81–1.55) |
| All heart diseases | 80/491 | 1.03 (0.77–1.37) | 56/519 | 1.01 (0.75–1.35) | 80/502 | 0.86 (0.62–1.19) | 39/543 | 1.41 (0.93–2.14) | 152/394 | 1.11 (0.92–1.34) |
| Ischemic heart disease | 42/317 | 0.79 (0.54–1.16) | 33/331 | 0.93 (0.63–1.37) | 49/320 | 0.90 (0.60–1.34) | 22/341 | 1.45 (0.84–2.49) | 93/252 | 1.05 (0.83–1.33) |
| MI | 36/226 | 0.91 (0.59–1.41) | 34/233 | 1.28 (0.87–1.90) | 39/229 | 0.84 (0.52–1.35) | 26/252 | 1.76 (1.02–3.04) | 77/171 | 1.23 (0.94–1.61) |
Abbreviations: BCC, basal cell carcinoma of the skin; CI, confidence interval; CLL, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, HR, hazard ratio; MI, myocardial infarction; NMSC, non-melanoma skin cancer; SCC, squamous cell carcinoma of the skin
Bolded= P-value <0.05
*
Number of events is among technologists who ever vs. never worked with procedure.
†
Models used age as the time metric, were stratified by birth year, and were adjusted for sex and other nuclear medicine procedures (except for models of “any radionuclide procedure”)