Cause-of-death registers in radiation-contaminated areas of the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan

Abstract

Since the early 1990s, information on radiation-exposed populations other than those exposed from the Chernobyl accident in 1986 has become increasingly available for international scientific research. It is essential to understand how the cohorts of exposed populations have been defined and what mechanisms can be used to study their health outcomes. Different international scientific research collaborations currently investigate four population groups chronically exposed to ionizing radiation during the late 1940s and early 1950s in the Russian Federation and in Kazakhstan. In this framework, collaborations have been established to develop cause-of-death registers in each of these four areas for future mortality follow-up purposes with the aim of studying the health effects of ionizing radiation. The emphasis of this effort is on assessing the information sources available, the mechanisms of data collection and coding, and the data quality and completeness of the information collected. One of the major challenges is the harmonization of all these aspects between the four different centers to the extent possible, taking into account that much of the actual data has been collected over many decades.

Mortality from Cardiovascular Diseases in the Semipalatinsk Historical Cohort, 1960–1999, and its Relationship to Radiation Exposure

“…Follow-up procedures and ascertainment of causes of death were independent of exposure status. Quality control of coding procedures (15), searches for duplicates, and plausibility checks have been performed within the cohort database.…”

Fallout from nuclear tests: health effects in Kazakhstan

“…The cause of death information is practically complete, given the low proportion of entries with missing information but can be added after comparison with primary data sources. The accuracy of cause of death data and coding procedures is currently being assessed [3] and implications of changes in death certification practices over time will be evaluated.…”

“…After 1990, autopsy rates decreased to approximately 10% to-date and therefore the death registration act is now solely based on the medical death certificate. Causes of death are coded according to ICD-9 by the KRIRME staff (see [3]). The legal death registration act which is used for mortality follow-up comprises the date of document, surname, name, patronymic, gender, nationality (i.e.…”

In utero exposure to radiation and haematological malignancies: pooled analysis of Southern Urals cohorts

“…Mortality was followed up from January 1950 to December 2009, within the same catchment area as for the incidence analysis. This follow-up was conducted using records from the URCRM cause-of-death registry covering the entire time period (Winkelmann et al , 2002; Startsev et al , 2015). Subjects were followed up for incidence and mortality until their death, their emigration out of the catchment area, or the end of the follow-up period, or – for incidence analysis only – until their first cancer diagnosis.…”