Re: Cancer Assessment Press Release

[huntjb@ornl.gov (Jerry Hunt)]

Scott--

The explanation is pretty simple actually.  People who are able to work
("healthy workers") are healthier than the general poplulation which
includes people that are too sick or unhealthy to work.  So any study that
looks at workers always tends to show the workers are healthier than the
general population even if adjusted for parameters like age and sex.  

The usual way that good epidemiologists deal with this is to compare an
exposed worker population to an unexposed worker population doing similar
work.  

I'm not an epidemiologist so this should not be considered a definitive
explanation.



At 10:56 AM 1/30/98 -0600, you wrote:
>Otto and all,
>
>Would some one give me a readers digest/simple version of what 
>"healthy worker effect" is.  I've tried explaning this but (lay) people 
>just get lost in my long winded explanations.  I need to better my 
>communication skills again.  Thanks.
>
>Scott Kniffin
>
>Scott.D.Kniffin.1@gsfc.nasa.gov
>RSO, Unisys Corp. @ Lanham, MD
>CHO, Radiation Effects Facility, GSFC, NASA, Greenbelt, MD
>
>The opinions expressed here are my own.  They do not necessarily represent
>the views of Unisys Corporation or NASA.  This information has not been
>reviewed by my employer or supervisor.  
>
>At 10:35 01/30/98 -0600, you wrote:
>>I will predict the results based on other studies of "nuclear workers":
>>Persons working at Brookhaven will be found to have lower age-corrected
>>cancer rates than other members of the population of Long Island or New
>>York State. This will be discounted as the result of "the healthy worker
>>effect."
>>
>>Otto
>>		*****************************************************
>>		Prof. Otto G. Raabe, Ph.D., CHP
>>                [President, Health Physics Society, 1997-1998]
>>		Institute of Toxicology & Environmental Health (ITEH)
>>		     (Street address: Old Davis Road)
>>		University of California, Davis, CA 95616
>>		Phone: 530-752-7754  FAX: 530-758-6140 [NEW AREA CODE]
>>		E-mail ograabe@ucdavis.edu
>
>

*******************************************
Jerry Hunt, CHP
Office of Radiation Protection
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
P.O. Box 2008
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Ph.-(423)576-5117, Mailto:huntjb@ornl.gov
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