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John, Gary and other Radsafers
It has been recognized for some years that
radiation can result in cardiovascular diseases, and since radon will result in
elevated doses to the cells at risk, we think it will also. The abstract of our
presentation at the CRPA AM later this month is "imported" below.
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Can Radon Accelerate Cardiovascular Diseases among Workers and Exposed Population? J. R. Johnson1), A. Trivedi 2) and P. Duport 3) 1) IDIAS, Vancouver, British Columbia; Canada 2) Radiation Biology and Health Physics Branch, AECL, Chalk River, Canada 3) International Centre for Low Dose Radiation Research, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada Cardiovascular diseases are reported as the cause of morbidity and mortality among those exposed to (high) therapeutic doses of radiation, A-bomb explosions, accidental (Chernobyl liquidators) and occupational levels of radiation. Radiation can be considered as one of many risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. As such, it may be necessary to reduce not only other risk factors as far as possible, but also to minimize exposures to radiation to further reduce the burden of cardiovascular diseases in the population. This presentation will review relevant information on radiation-induced cardiovascular diseases including that from radon in uranium miners and in Newfoundland's fluorspar miners. Although standardized mortality ratio (SMR) values for cardiovascular diseases are consistently less than one in uranium miner cohorts, a trend for increased cardiovascular risk with increasing exposures was observed in the Newfoundland fluorspar miner cohort. We have calculated the doses to blood and coronary artery wall from radon and progeny, and have concluded radon exposure may indeed increase the incidence of cardiovascular diseases and that a thorough investigation of that risk is justified, even at environmental and occupational levels. ****
John
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