Table 4.
Cancers under age of 25 years in children of male nuclear workers, classified according to paternal employment history before conception, monitoring for radiation exposure, and estimated radiation dose with separate analysis excluding children who may have been included in the study by Gardner et al10
| All children
|
Excluding children born in Cumbria before 1986
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No of cancers (offspring-years*) | Rate ratio† (95% CI) | No of cancers (offspring-years*) | Rate ratio† (95% CI) | ||
| All malignancies | |||||
| Before employment‡ and monitoring§ | 39 (379 025) | 1.0 | 31 (325 479) | 1.0 | |
| After employment,‡ not monitored§ | 16 (95 115) | 1.5 (0.8 to 2.7) | 14 (90 478) | 1.5 (0.8 to 2.8) | |
| Monitored (all)§: | 39 (242 186) | 1.4 (0.9 to 2.2) | 29 (182 763) | 1.5 (0.9 to 2.5) | |
| External radiation only | 23 (150 648) | 1.4 (0.8 to 2.3) | 18 (120 539) | 1.4 (0.8 to 2.6) | |
| External and internal | 16 (91 538) | 1.5 (0.8 to 2.7) | 11 (62 224) | 1.6 (0.8 to 3.2) | |
| Cumulative external dose (mSv)¶: | |||||
| <50 | 29 (187 197) | 1.4 (0.8 to 2.2) | 23 (154 736) | 1.4 (0.8 to 2.4) | |
| 50- | 4 (26 660) | 1.3 (0.5 to 3.8) | 2 (14 880) | 1.2 (0.3 to 5.4) | |
| ⩾100 | 6 (23 431) | 2.2 (0.9 to 5.3) | 4 (8 570) | 4.1 (1.4 to 11.8) | |
| Estimated cumulative dose in 6 months before conception (mSv)¶: | |||||
| <5 | 31 (199 180) | 1.3 (0.8 to 2.2) | 25 (163 313) | 1.4 (0.8 to 2.5) | |
| 5- | 3 (20 026) | 1.4 (0.4 to 4.5) | 1 (9 144) | 1.1 (0.1 to 8.1) | |
| ⩾10 | 5 (17 986) | 2.5 (1.0 to 6.5) | 3 (5 648) | 5.1 (1.6 to 16.9) | |
| Leukaemia and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma | |||||
| Before employment‡ and monitoring§ | 11 (379 173) | 1.0 | 7 (325 594) | 1.0 | |
| After employment,‡ not monitored§ | 3 (95 170) | 1.0 (0.3 to 3.6) | 3 (90 527) | 1.4 (0.3 to 5.5) | |
| Monitored (all)§ | 14 (242 279) | 1.8 (0.7 to 4.4) | 10 (182 841) | 2.2 (0.7 to 6.6) | |
| External radiation only | 7 (150 705) | 1.5 (0.5 to 4.2) | 6 (120 582) | 2.0 (0.6 to 7.0) | |
| External and internal | 7 (91 574) | 2.3 (0.8 to 6.6) | 4 (62 259) | 2.4 (0.6 to 9.4) | |
| Cumulative external dose (mSv)¶: | |||||
| <50 | 10 (187 255) | 1.7 (0.6 to 4.3) | 9 (154 782) | 2.3 (0.8 to 7.2) | |
| 50- | 1 (26 681) | 1.2 (0.2 to 9.4) | 0 (14 898) | 0.0 (-) | |
| ⩾100 | 3 (23 445) | 3.9 (1.0 to 15.7) | 1 (8 584) | 4.3 (0.5 to 40.5) | |
| Estimated cumulative dose in 6 months before conception (mSv)¶: | |||||
| <5 | 11 (199 255) | 1.7 (0.7 to 4.3) | 9 (613 378) | 2.2 (0.7 to 6.8) | |
| 5- | 0 (20 030) | 0.0 (-) | 0 (9 145) | 0.0 (-) | |
| ⩾10 | 3 (18 000) | 5.4 (1.4 to 20.5) | 1 (5 661) | 7.4 (0.8 to 66.5) | |
| Leukaemia | |||||
| Before employment‡ and monitoring§ | 8 (379 188) | 1.0 | 5 (325 607) | 1.0 | |
| After employment,‡ not monitored§ | 2 (95 181) | 1.0 (0.2 to 4.4) | 2 (90 538) | 1.3 (0.3 to 6.9) | |
| Monitored (all)§: | 12 (242 280) | 2.2 (0.8 to 6.1) | 9 (182 842) | 2.9 (0.8 to 10.3) | |
| External radiation only | 7 (150 705) | 2.1 (0.7 to 6.5) | 6 (120 582) | 3.0 (0.8 to 11.5) | |
| External and internal | 5 (91 575) | 2.4 (0.7 to 8.3) | 3 (62 260) | 2.7 (0.6 to 13.5) | |
| Cumulative external dose (mSv)¶: | |||||
| <50 | 8 (187 256) | 1.9 (0.7 to 5.7) | 8 (154 783) | 3.1 (0.8 to 11.1) | |
| 50- | 1 (26 681) | 1.7 (0.2 to 14.2) | 0 (14 898) | 0.0 ( to ) | |
| ⩾100 | 3 (23 445) | 5.8 (1.3 to 24.8) | 1 (8 584) | 6.6 (0.7 to 67.1) | |
| Estimated cumulative dose in 6 months before conception (mSv)¶: | |||||
| <5 | 9 (199 257) | 2.0 (0.7 to 5.9) | 8 (163 379) | 2.9 (0.8 to 10.5) | |
| 5- | 0 (20 030) | 0.0 (-) | 0 (9 145) | 0.0 (-) | |
| ⩾10 | 3 (18 000) | 7.7 (1.9 to 31.0) | 1 (5 661) | 11.0 (1.2 to 105.0) | |
| All malignancies except leukaemia and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma | |||||
| Before employment‡ and monitoring§ | 28 (379 093) | 1.0 | 24 (325 543) | 1.0 | |
| After employment,‡ not monitored§ | 13 (95 131) | 1.7 (0.9 to 3.3) | 11 (90 494) | 1.5 (0.7 to 3.1) | |
| Monitored (all)§: | 25 (242 274) | 1.3 (0.7 to 2.2) | 19 (182 834) | 1.3 (0.7 to 2.3) | |
| External radiation only | 16 (150 684) | 1.3 (0.7 to 2.4) | 12 (120 574) | 1.2 (0.6 to 2.5) | |
| External and internal | 9 (91 590) | 1.2 (0.6 to 2.5) | 7 (64 260) | 1.3 (0.6 to 3.1) | |
| Cumulative external dose (mSv)¶: | |||||
| <50 | 19 (187 264) | 1.2 (0.7 to 2.2) | 14 (154 803) | 1.1 (0.6 to 2.1) | |
| 50- | 3 (26 674) | 1.4 (0.4 to 4.7) | 2 (14 880) | 1.6 (0.4 to 7.2) | |
| ⩾100 | 3 (23 438) | 1.5 (0.5 to 5.0) | 3 (8 573) | 4.0 (1.2 to 13.6) | |
| Estimated cumulative dose in 6 months before conception (mSv)¶: | |||||
| <5 | 20 (199 261) | 1.2 (0.7 to 2.1) | 16 (163 380) | 1.2 (0.6 to 2.2) | |
| 5- | 3 (20 026) | 1.9 (0.6 to 6.3) | 1 (9 145) | 1.4 (0.2 to 10.7) | |
| ⩾10 | 2 (17 993) | 1.4 (0.3 to 5.9) | 2 (5 652) | 4.4 (1.1 to 18.5) | |
Offspring-years up to diagnosis, death, or date of survey.
Estimated rate ratios adjusted for calendar period, age and sex of child, and for the number of children born to each parent.
According to date of first service with nuclear authority in personnel record supplied by employer.
Monitoring defined as presence of a record of monitoring for external sources of ionising radiation at Atomic Weapons Establishment, Atomic Energy Authority, British Nuclear Fuels or a previous employer, or date first externally monitored present in personnel record, or flag/date of monitoring for internal radionuclides.
Cumulative paternal dose. For 947 (3%) of children (3265 offspring-years) the cumulative dose at conception was not known, either because, although there was evidence that the father had been internally monitored, there was no external dose record or because the first external dose record was a transfer dose, or because there was evidence from the personnel record that the father had been monitored but there was no external dose record.