Re: Radon and Lung Cancer: What the studies really say.

[epirad@mchsi.com]

Unlike ecologic studies, case-control studies differ in that in a case control 

study you directly measure the radon concetration in a home and with subject 

mobility, the radon concentrations can be linked to mobility to get an estimate 

of exposure. The ecologic studies use a few short term measurments per home 

(with a high percentage in the basement) while the case control studies use 

year long living area measurements.  In an ecologic study exposure 

nondifferential misclassification can cause unbounded extreme biases while in a 

case-control study nondifferential misclassification reduces the risk estimate.



In a case control study, if you obtain retrospective information on radon 

progeny, you can calculate dose.   

> 

> On Thu, 19 Jun 2003, Kai Kaletsch wrote:

> 

> > pCi/L is not a unit of dose or exposure. It is a unit of concentration. You

> > may be able to argue that pCi/L from your data can be used as a proxy

> > measurement for average exposure in a county to do a test on LNT, but you

> > can not use it as a measure of personal exposure. You can not say which

> > "dose region" your studies give us insight into, because you cannot measure

> > dose.

> 

> 	--It is very widely agreed that a measurement of radon

> concentration in a home give an estimate of its occupants' exposure to

> radon progeny. The usual conversion is 0.2 WLM/year per pCi/L.

> This is used in essentially all case-control studies as well as my

> studies, and in estimates by EPA and other agencies.

> 

> > There are certainly people

> > who claim to see increasing relative risk with increasing radon exposure.

> > See for example:

> >

> > http://members.shaw.ca/eic/odds.pdf

> >

> > This goes down to 50 Bq/m3.

> 

> 	--I tried this address and nothing came up. There are a few data

> points below 3 pCi/L (110 Bq/m3), but if you look at the error bars, the

> most that can be said is that they "are consistent with" LNT, or

> "consistent with" increasing risk with increasing radon exposure. They are

> also consistent with decreasing risk with increasing radon exposure in

> that low dose range.

> 

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