A review of the results from the German Wismut uranium miners cohort.

The Wismut cohort is currently the largest single study on the health risks associated with occupational exposures to ionising radiation and dust accrued during activities related to uranium mining. The cohort has ∼59 000 male workers, first employed between 1946 and 1989, at the Wismut Company in Germany. The main effect is a statistically significant increase in mortality from lung cancer with both increasing cumulative radon exposure and silica dust exposure.

Mortality from internal and external radiation exposure in a cohort of male German uranium millers, 1946-2008.

Purpose: To examine exposure-response relationships between ionizing radiation and several mortality outcomes in a subgroup of 4,054 men of the German uranium miner cohort study, who worked between 1946 and 1989 in milling facilities, but never underground or in open pit mines.

Methods: Mortality follow-up was from 1946 to 2008, accumulating 158,383 person-years at risk. Cumulative exposure to radon progeny in working level months (WLM) (mean = 8, max = 127), long-lived radionuclides from uranium ore dust in kBqh/m(3) (mean = 3.

Silica dust, radon and death from non-malignant respiratory diseases in German uranium miners.

Objective: To quantify the relationship between death from non-malignant respiratory diseases (NMRD) and exposure to silica dust or radon in a cohort of 58,690 former German uranium miners.

Methods: In the follow-up period from 1946 to 2008, a total of 2336 underlying deaths from NMRDs occurred, including 715 deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) and 975 deaths from silicosis or other pneumoconiosis. Exposure to respirable crystalline silica and radon was individually assessed by means of a comprehensive job-exposure matrix.

Radiation dose dependent risk of liver cancer mortality in the German uranium miners cohort 1946-2003.

An increased risk of mortality from primary liver cancers among uranium miners has been observed in various studies. An analysis of the data from a German uranium miner cohort (the 'Wismut cohort') was used to assess the relationship with ionising radiation. To that end the absorbed organ dose due to high and low linear energy transfer radiation was calculated for 58 987 miners with complete information on radiation exposure from a detailed job-exposure matrix.

External gamma radiation and mortality from cardiovascular diseases in the German WISMUT uranium miners cohort study, 1946-2008.

It is currently unclear whether exposure of the heart and vascular system, at lifetime accumulated dose levels relevant to the general public (<500 mGy), is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Therefore, data from the German WISMUT cohort of uranium miners were investigated for evidence of a relationship between external gamma radiation and death from cardiovascular diseases. The cohort comprises 58,982 former employees of the Wismut company.