[ RadSafe ] Lung, Liver, and Bone Cancer in Mayak Workers due to Plutonium

[garyi at trinityphysics.com]

Hi Cindy,

I probably should not advertise my ignorance  :)

However, here's part of the abstract (emphasis mine):

    By December 31, 2003, 681 lung cancer deaths, 75 liver cancer deaths and 30 bone 
    cancer deaths had occurred. Of these 786 deaths, 239 (30%) were attributed to plutonium 
    exposure. Significant plutonium dose-response relationships (p < 0.001) were observed 
    for all 3 endpoints, with lung and liver cancer risks reasonably described by linear 
    functions. At attained age 60, the ERRs per Gy for lung cancer were 7.1 for males and 15 
    for females; the averaged-attained age ERRs for liver cancer were 2.6 and 29 for 
    males and females, respectively; those for bone cancer were 0.76 and 3.4. This study is 
    the first to present and compare dose-response analyses for cancers of all 3 organs. 

For liver Ca, the reported ERRs were 2.6 and 29, male vs female.  Could the ERR ratio for 
females and males really be >10 ?  Or is that just a droped decimal point?

-Gary

--------------------------------------------------
On 16 Jun 2008 at 21:32, Cindy Bloom wrote:

Date sent:	Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:32:37 -0400
To:	garyi at trinityphysics.com, <radsafe at radlab.nl>
From:	Cindy Bloom <radbloom at comcast.net>
Subject:	Re: [ RadSafe ] Lung, Liver, and Bone Cancer in Mayak Workers
 	due to Plutonium
Gary,

In another abstract http://www.rrjournal.org/perlserv/?request=get-
abstract&doi=10.1667%2F0033-
7587(2000)154%5B0246%3ALCIMW%5D2.0.CO%3B2&ct=1, it was noted that: 
    "Relative risks tended to be higher for females than for males, probably because of 
    the lower baseline risk and the higher levels of plutonium measured in females. " 
    This might be part of your answer. Because this other paper was discussing risk not 
    risk/dose, only the baseline part of the argument would apply. It would be interesting to 
    see the error estimates associated with the risk estimates, as well as the numbers in 
    the subpopulations.
    
    Cindy