Skip to main content
PMC home page
Occupational and Environmental Medicine logoLink to Occupational and Environmental Medicine
. 1994 May;51(5):308–315. doi: 10.1136/oem.51.5.308

Mortality in uranium miners in west Bohemia: a long-term cohort study.

L Tomásek 1, A J Swerdlow 1, S C Darby 1, V Placek 1, E Kunz 1
PMCID: PMC1127975  PMID: 8199680

Abstract

A cohort of 4320 uranium miners in West Bohemia who started work at the mines during 1948 to 1959 and worked there for at least four years were followed up to the end of 1990 to determine cause specific mortality risks in relation to exposures in the mines. The miners had experienced high radon exposures, on average 219 working level months during their uranium mining careers, for which detailed measurements were available. They had also been exposed to high arsenic levels in one of the two major mines, and to dust. New follow up methods, not previously used for occupational cohorts in Czechoslovakia, were utilised. By the end of follow up 2415 (56%) of the cohort were known to have died. Overall mortality was significantly raised compared with that in the general population (relative risk (RR) = 1.56, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.50-1.63), with significantly raised risks of lung cancer (RR = 5.08, 95% CI 4.71-5.47), accidents (RR = 1.59, 95% CI 1.34-1.87), homicide (RR = 5.57, 95% CI 2.66-10.21), mental disorders (RR = 5.18, 95% CI 2.83-8.70), cirrhosis (RR = 1.51, 95% CI 1.16-1.94), and non-rheumatic circulatory diseases (RR = 1.16, 95% CI 1.08-1.25). The relative risk of lung cancer was greatest four to 14 years after entry to the mines. Relative risks for homicide and accidents were raised up to 25 years from entry but not after this. Substantial significantly raised risks at 15 to 24 years after entry occurred for cirrhosis, non-rheumatic circulatory diseases,a nd pneumonia and other respiratory infections. Sizeable significantly raised risks at 25 and more years after entry, but not earlier, were present for mental disorders, tuberculosis, and non-malignant non-infectious respiratory conditions. No specific causes showed risks significantly related to age at entry to mining. Risk of lung cancer was significantly positively related to radon exposure, estimated arsenic exposure, and duration of work in the mines, but no other cause was significantly positively related to these variables. The raised risk of lung cancer in uranium miners, which is well established, is related aetiologically to radon exposure, and in the present cohort it may also in part have been due to exposure to arsenic. The raised risks of accidents, tuberculosis, and non-infectious respiratory diseases have also been seen in other uranium mining cohorts, and are likely to reflect the dangerous and dusty working conditions and the confined spaces in which work occurred. The cirrhosis and homicide deaths probably related to the lifestyle associated with mining. The raised risk of circulatory diseases does not seem to be related to radon or arsenic exposure; its causes are unclear. The use of multiple follow up methods was found to be mortality in the cohort.

Full text

PDF
312

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Brown K. G., Boyle K. E., Chen C. W., Gibb H. J. A dose-response analysis of skin cancer from inorganic arsenic in drinking water. Risk Anal. 1989 Dec;9(4):519–528. doi: 10.1111/j.1539-6924.1989.tb01263.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Fox A. J., Collier P. F. Low mortality rates in industrial cohort studies due to selection for work and survival in the industry. Br J Prev Soc Med. 1976 Dec;30(4):225–230. doi: 10.1136/jech.30.4.225. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Hodgson J. T., Jones R. D. Mortality of a cohort of tin miners 1941-86. Br J Ind Med. 1990 Oct;47(10):665–676. doi: 10.1136/oem.47.10.665. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Kubík A. Studies on smoking, chronic nonspecific respiratory diseases, and lung cancer in selected territories of Czechoslovakia. Z Erkr Atmungsorgane. 1979;152(2):180–185. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Lee-Feldstein A. A comparison of several measures of exposure to arsenic. Matched case-control study of copper smelter employees. Am J Epidemiol. 1989 Jan;129(1):112–124. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a115100. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Morrison H. I., Semenciw R. M., Mao Y., Wigle D. T. Cancer mortality among a group of fluorspar miners exposed to radon progeny. Am J Epidemiol. 1988 Dec;128(6):1266–1275. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a115080. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Radford E. P., Renard K. G. Lung cancer in Swedish iron miners exposed to low doses of radon daughters. N Engl J Med. 1984 Jun 7;310(23):1485–1494. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198406073102302. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Samet J. M., Pathak D. R., Morgan M. V., Key C. R., Valdivia A. A., Lubin J. H. Lung cancer mortality and exposure to radon progeny in a cohort of New Mexico underground uranium miners. Health Phys. 1991 Dec;61(6):745–752. doi: 10.1097/00004032-199112000-00005. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Samet J. M., Young R. A., Morgan M. V., Humble C. G., Epler G. R., McLoud T. C. Prevalence survey of respiratory abnormalities in New Mexico uranium miners. Health Phys. 1984 Feb;46(2):361–370. doi: 10.1097/00004032-198402000-00011. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Sevc J., Kunz E., Placek V., Smíd A. Comments on lung cancer risk estimates. Health Phys. 1984 Apr;46(4):961–965. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Sevc J., Kunz E., Tomásek L., Placek V., Horácek J. Cancer in man after exposure to Rn daughters. Health Phys. 1988 Jan;54(1):27–46. doi: 10.1097/00004032-198801000-00001. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Sevc J., Tomasek L., Kunz E., Placek V., Chmelevsky D., Barclay D., Kellerer A. M. A survey of the Czechoslovak follow-up of lung cancer mortality in uranium miners. Health Phys. 1993 Apr;64(4):355–369. doi: 10.1097/00004032-199304000-00002. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Tirmarche M., Raphalen A., Allin F., Chameaud J., Bredon P. Mortality of a cohort of French uranium miners exposed to relatively low radon concentrations. Br J Cancer. 1993 May;67(5):1090–1097. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1993.200. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Tomásek L., Darby S. C., Swerdlow A. J., Placek V., Kunz E. Radon exposure and cancers other than lung cancer among uranium miners in West Bohemia. Lancet. 1993 Apr 10;341(8850):919–923. doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(93)91212-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Trapp E., Renzetti A. D., Jr, Kobayashi T., Mitchell M. M., Bigler A. Cardiopulmonary function in uranium miners. Am Rev Respir Dis. 1970 Jan;101(1):27–43. doi: 10.1164/arrd.1970.101.1.27. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Occupational and Environmental Medicine are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES