A Risk Comparison of Non-cancer Mortality between Lifestyle, Socioeconomic Status, and Radiation among Japanese Nuclear Workers (J-EPISODE).

Many epidemiological studies have been conducted to investigate the health effects of low-dose radiation. Most of these investigations have focused on cancer, and fewer studies have examined non-cancer topics than cancer subjects. The purpose of this study is to compare the relative risks of non-cancer mortality from low-dose radiation with lifestyle factors (such as smoking habits) and socioeconomic status (such as years of education).

A Risk Comparison between Lifestyle, Socioeconomic Status, and Radiation: A Cohort Study of Cancer Mortality among Japanese Nuclear Workers (J-EPISODE).

The health effects of low-dose radiation exposure have been a source of controversy. One possible reason is that epidemiological studies that compare radiation risk with other factors, such as lifestyle or socioeconomic status, have been limited. The aim of this study is to conduct a comparison of the cancer risk of mortality between radiation, lifestyle habits (such as smoking), and socioeconomic status (such as years of education) among Japanese nuclear workers.

Reanalysis of cancer mortality using reconstructed organ-absorbed dose: J-EPISODE 1991‒2010.

The Japanese Epidemiological Study on Low-Dose Radiation Effects (J-EPISODE) has been conducted since 1990 by the Radiation Effects Association to analyse health effects for nuclear workers. It uses the recorded doses, i.e.

Organ Dose Reconstruction Applicable for a Japanese Nuclear Worker Cohort: J-EPISODE.

An evaluation of cancer risk based on organ-absorbed dose is underway for the Japanese Epidemiological Study on Low-Dose Radiation Effects (J-EPISODE), which has analyzed health effects in association with radiation exposure evaluated with the personal dose equivalent Hp(10). Although the concept of effective dose and its operational definition of Hp(10) are widely used for radiological protection purposes, effective dose is not recommended for epidemiological evaluation. Organ-absorbed dose was instead adopted for the IARC 15-Country Collaborative study (15-Country study), the International Nuclear Workers Study (INWORKS), the Mayak worker study, and the Life Span Study (LSS) of atomic bomb survivors.

ESTIMATION OF PHOTON ENERGY AND DIRECTION DISTRIBUTIONS AT JAPANESE NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS BASED ON LITERATURE SURVEY FOR J-EPISODE STUDY.

In order to reconstruct organ-absorbed dose from recorded dose for risk estimation in nuclear worker cohort, the preceding study of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) 15-Country Collaborative Study estimated the organ dose conversion factor from the recorded dose of Hp(10) under the assumption that on average, in the nuclear power plants (NPPs), 10% of the dose received by workers was due to photon energies ranging from 100 to 300 keV and 90% from photon energies ranging from 300 to 3000 keV, with the average geometry being 50% in the antero-posterior geometry and 50% in the isotropic geometry. Similar examination was conducted at the Japanese Epidemiological Study on Low-Dose Radiation Effects (J-EPISODE). Literature survey disclosed that Japanese electric power companies had jointly conducted the research on energy distribution and incidence direction distribution of gamma rays in working environments during periodical inspection and maintenance as well as during operation in the 1980s.

CONVERSION FACTOR FROM DOSEMETER READING TO AIR KERMA FOR NUCLEAR WORKER USING ANTHROPOMORPHIC PHANTOM FOR FURTHER CONVERSION FROM AIR KERMA TO ORGAN-ABSORBED DOSE.

Estimation of cancer risk based on the organ-absorbed dose is underway for the Japanese Epidemiological Study on Low-Dose Radiation Effects (J-EPISODE). The reconstruction method for the organ-absorbed dose follows the approach adopted in the IARC 15-Country Collaborative Study, which examined the dosemeter response to photon exposure for the old film badge (FB) type, a multi-element FB and a thermoluminescence dosemeter. Until 2000, the dosemeters used in Japan were almost the same in the IARC study, so IARC study data could be used as they were.

Effect of Radiation Dose Rate on Circulatory Disease Mortality among Nuclear Workers: Reanalysis of Hanford Data.

The excess relative risk (ERR) of mortality for circulatory disease among nuclear workers was reanalyzed by taking into consideration the annual dose as the dose rate using publicly available epidemiological data of the Hanford site dedicated to the cohort study of nuclear workers in the US, the UK, and Canada. Values of the dose rate (cut-points) were chosen at 2 mSv y intervals from 2 to 40 mSv y, and risk estimates were made for 32,988 workers, considering the doses accumulated below and above each cut-point to have different effects. Similarly to that in the previous study for cancer by Sasaki et al.

Effect of Radiation Dose Rate on Cancer Mortality among Nuclear Workers: Reanalysis of Hanford Data.

The excess relative risk of mortality for all cancers excluding leukemia among nuclear workers was reanalyzed by taking the annual dose as the dose rate into consideration using publicly available epidemiological data from the Hanford site dedicated to the cohort study of nuclear workers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada (Three Countries Study). Values of the dose rate (cut points) were chosen at 2 mSv y intervals from 2 to 40 mSv y, and risk estimates were made for 32,988 workers, considering doses accumulated below the cut point and above the cut point to have different effects. Although the procedure to extract the study population and the methodology used for analysis basically followed those in the Three Countries Study, additional examinations were also carried out for different risk models, lag periods, and impacts of adjusting the monitoring period to find the effect of the dose rate.

Corrigendum: direct adjustment for confounding by smoking reduces radiation-related cancer risk estimates of mortality among male nuclear workers in Japan, 1999-2010.

We found some trivial errors which might confuse reader. The errors can be identified as the following two types. (1) The one is that misuse of "ERR" and "ERR/Sv".

Direct adjustment for confounding by smoking reduces radiation-related cancer risk estimates of mortality among male nuclear workers in Japan, 1999-2010.

A causal relationship between protracted exposure to low-dose rate radiation and health effects remains unclear despite extensive international studies of nuclear workers. One potential reason is that radiation epidemiological studies that adjust for tobacco smoking, which heavily influences mortality, have been limited. In the present study, we examined radiation-related cancer risk by directly assessing the possible confounding effect of smoking, using data from two questionnaire surveys performed among Japanese nuclear workers in 1997 and 2003.