Breast cancer in Belarus and Ukraine after the Chernobyl accident

Abstract

An increase in breast cancer incidence has been reported in areas of Belarus and Ukraine contaminated by the Chernobyl accident and has become an issue of public concern. The authors carried out an ecological epidemiological study to describe the spatial and temporal trends in breast cancer incidence in the most contaminated regions of Belarus and Ukraine, and to evaluate whether increases seen since 1986 correlate to radiation exposure from the Chernobyl accident. The authors investigated the trends through age-cohort-period-region analyses of district-specific incidence rates of breast cancer for Gomel and Mogilev regions of Belarus and Chernigiv, Kyiv and Zhytomir regions of Ukraine. Doseresponse analyses were based on Poisson regression, using average district-specific whole body doses accumulated since the accident from external exposure and ingestion of long-lived radionuclides. The study demonstrated increases in breast cancer incidence in all areas following the Chernobyl accident, reflecting improvements in cancer diagnosis and registration. In addition, a significant 2-fold increase in risk was observed, during the period 1997-2001, in the most contaminated districts (average cumulative dose of 40.0 mSv or more) compared with the least contaminated districts (relative risk [RR] in Belarus 2.24, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.51-3.32 and in Ukraine 1.78, 95% CI 5 1.08-2.93). The increase, though based on a relatively small number of cases, appeared approximately 10 years after the accident, was highest among women who were younger at the time of exposure and was observed for both localised and metastatic diseases. It is unlikely that this excess could be entirely due to the increased diagnostic activity in these areas. ' 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Breast cancer incidence following low-dose rate environmental exposure: Techa River Cohort, 1956–2004

“…A study of breast cancer incidence after the Chernobyl accident found an increased risk among women resident in the most contaminated districts (average cumulative whole body dose of 50 mSv) with an ERR of 1.2 (95% CI, 0.5, 2.3) in Belarus and 0.8 in Ukraine (95% CI: 0.1; 1.9). However, the limitations of ecologic studies require that this finding be interpreted with caution (Pukkala et al, 2006).…”

“…Associations between cancer risks from low-dose occupational radiation exposure (Wang et al, 2002;Doody et al, 2006) or protracted low-to-moderate dose environmental radiation exposure (Bauer et al, 2005;Pukkala et al, 2006) have, however, been reported.…”

Second primary malignancies in females with primary fallopian tube cancer

“…The latency would fit better with a hypothesis of an effect of ionising radiation. 30 Studies have advocated either pelvic or whole abdominal radiotherapy for treatment of PFTC, but because of low efficacy and a high rate of serious complications this should no longer be used except for palliation of specific symptoms. 2,8,[31][32][33] The total doses used in the pelvic or total abdominal radiotherapy have ranged from 25 to 70 Gy (median 50.0 Gy).…”

Impact of Environmental Contaminants on Breast Cancer / Wpływ Zanieczyszczenia Środowiska Na Raka Piersi

“…An increased incidence of breast cancer due to radiation exposure was observed in the atomic bomb survivors [236][237][238][239], and radiation-associated breast tumours were quite aggressive and associated with increased levels of genomic instability and higher histological grade in breast cancer [240]. Also up to 2-fold increase in breast cancer (both localised and metastatic diseases) following the Chernobyl accident in 1986 was estimated during the period 1997-2001 in the most contaminated districts (average cumulative dose of 40.0 mSv or more), whereby the increase appeared approximately 10 years after the accident, and it was highest among women who were younger at the time of exposure [241].…”