Lung cancer risk estimation in relation to residential radon exposure remains uncertain, partly as a result of imprecision in air -based retrospective radonexposure assessment in epidemiological studies. A recently developed methodology provides estimates for past radon concentrations and involves measurement of the surface activity of a glass object that has been in a subject's dwellings through the period for exposure assessment. Such glass measurements were performed for 110 lung cancer subjects, diagnosed 1985 to 1995, and for 231 control subjects, recruited in a case -control study of residential radon and lung cancer among never -smokers in Sweden. The relative risks ( with 95% confidence intervals ) of lung cancer in relation to categories of surface -based average domestic radon concentration during three decades, delimited by cutpoints at 50, 80, and 140 Bq m À 3 , were 1.60 ( 0.8 to 3.4 ), 1.96 ( 0.9 to 4.2 ), and 2.20 ( 0.9 to 5.6 ), respectively, with average radon concentrations below 50 Bq m À 3 used as reference category, and with adjustment for other risk factors. These relative risks, and the excess relative risk ( ERR ) of 75% ( À 4% to 430% ) per 100 Bq m À 3 obtained when using a continuous variable for surface -based average radon concentration estimates, were about twice the size of the corresponding relative risks obtained among these subjects when using air -based average radon concentration estimates. This suggests that surface -based estimates may provide a more relevant exposure proxy than air -based estimates for relating past radon exposure to lung cancer risk.
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