Radon and never-smokers in Sweden

[precura.martin@T-ONLINE.DE (Dr. Karl Martin)]

Dear Jim,



the efforts by the Swedish epidemiologists to use never-smokers for a risk 

assessment for indoor radon is to appreciate as discussed in the Schneeberg 

Study. Besides your and Tom's comments I agree with, the study has weaknesses 

that make it doubtful to accept the results presented as valid. Main objections 

are:



Radon measurements are performed during 3 months in the heating season between 

October and May when indoor radon is especially high in comparison to the other 

months of the year. Standard is a one year measurement to avoid seasonal changes 

(winter high, summer low)and recently retrospective measurements are introduced 

to validate current measurements. Measurements by standard procedure (one year) 

of radon concentration would result in fewer houses in "higher" categories 

making risk assessments even more suspicious.   



In all honesty the authors evaluated the interaction between residential radon 

exposure and ETS at home (Table 6). The trend of increased risk with increasing 

radon levels seems to be limited to subjects exposed to ETS at home, and this 

pattern was consistent both in the current study as well as among never-smokers 

in the nationwide study. When subjects with no ETS at home are analysed for 

their RR of lung cancer, no elevated and significant risk can be found up to 

80-140 Bq/m³. Only in the category >140 Bq/m³ a small elevated (1,13) risk can 

be established but still not significant. My conclusion is that there is a 

smoking bias at work as discussed in the Schneeberg Study. An unknown number of 

cases claiming to be exposed to ETS were more likely smokers. The health effects 

in the group of the exposed to ETS is possibly smoking related and not caused by 

indoor radon.               



Karl



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PreCura Institute for Preventive Medicine

Dr.Karl Martin

Augustsraße 2

D-16321 Schönow

FON/FAX 0049-3338-3221

Email: precura.martin@t-online.de

www.precura.de

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