PUMA – pooled uranium miners analysis: cohort profile

Rage, Estelle; Richardson, David B.; Demers, Paul A.; Do, Minh; Fenske, Nora; Kreuzer, Michaela; Samet, Jonathan M.; Wiggins, Charles L.; Schubauer‐Berigan, Mary K.; Kelly‐Reif, Kaitlin; Tomášek, Ladislav; Zablotska, Lydia B.; Laurier, Dominique

doi:10.1136/oemed-2019-105981

Cited by 32 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…The protocol for pooling the data from participating cohorts has been previously described. 19 The PUMA project was established to undertake combined analyses of cohorts of uranium miners, including open pit, underground, and surface workers. 19 People who were only ever employed as millers are not included in the study.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These are among the largest and most informative cohorts of uranium miners in the world. 19 A first article analyzed causes of death in regard to national mortality rates, 20 and analyses of the association between cumulative exposure to radon progeny and mortality are ongoing. Here, we report on the results of an analysis of miners first employed in 1960 or later, thereby excluding miners employed during the periods of highest exposure and focusing on those miners who tend to have higher-quality assessments of radon progeny exposures that occurred at lower exposure rates.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Lung Cancer and Radon: Pooled Analysis of Uranium Miners Hired in 1960 or Later

Richardson

Rage²,

Demers

et al. 2022

Environ Health Perspect

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Background: Despite reductions in exposure for workers and the general public, radon remains a leading cause of lung cancer. Prior studies of underground miners depended heavily upon information on deaths among miners employed in the early years of mine operations when exposures were high and tended to be poorly estimated. Objectives: To strengthen the basis for radiation protection, we report on the follow-up of workers employed in the later periods of mine operations for whom we have more accurate exposure information and for whom exposures tended to be accrued at intensities that are more comparable to contemporary settings. Methods: We conducted a pooled analysis of cohort studies of lung cancer mortality among 57,873 male uranium miners in Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, and the United States, who were first employed in 1960 or later (thereby excluding miners employed during the periods of highest exposure and focusing on miners who tend to have higher quality assessments of radon progeny exposures). We derived estimates of excess relative rate per 100 working level months (ERR/100 WLM) for mortality from lung cancer. Results: The analysis included person-years of observation and 1,217 deaths due to lung cancer. The relative rate of lung cancer increased in a linear fashion with cumulative exposure to radon progeny (ERR/100 ; 95% CI: 0.89, 1.88). The association was modified by attained age, age at exposure, and annual exposure rate; for attained ages , the ERR/100 WLM was 8.38 (95% CI: 3.30, 18.99) among miners who were exposed at of age and at annual exposure rates of working levels. This association decreased with older attained ages, younger ages at exposure, and higher exposure rates. Discussion: Estimates of association between radon progeny exposure and lung cancer mortality among relatively contemporary miners are coherent with estimates used to inform current protection guidelines. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP10669

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lung Cancer and Radon: Pooled Analysis of Uranium Miners Hired in 1960 or Later

Richardson

Rage²,

Demers

et al. 2022

Environ Health Perspect

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“…As demonstrated, the pooled cohort size (n ¼ 12,403), long follow-up period (large summary person-years at risk), and large numbers of deaths (particularly for lung cancer) should provide sufficient statistical power to evaluate radiation effects in the low dose range. While the numbers of deaths do not reach the magnitude of those reported in other pooled studies of occupational cohorts (Hamra et al 2015;Rage et al 2020), it is the only pooled cohort focused on uranium processing workers that have data available for evaluating intake of uranium and RDP exposure for individuals. Previous analyses of the three published cohorts suggested an increased risk of kidney (Golden et al 2019) and colon cancer mortality (Silver et al 2013;Zablotska et al 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Cohort profile: four early uranium processing facilities in the US and Canada

Golden

Milder

Ellis

et al. 2021

International Journal of Radiation Biology

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Purpose: Pooling of individual-level data for workers involved in uranium refining and processing (excluding enrichment) may provide valuable insights into risks from occupational uranium and external ionizing radiation exposures. Methods: Data were pooled for workers from four uranium processing facilities (Fernald, Mallinckrodt and Middlesex from the U.S.; and Port Hope, Canada). Employment began as early as the 1930s and follow-up was as late as 2017. Workers were exposed to high concentrations of uranium, radium, and their decay products, as well as gamma radiation and ambient radon decay products. Exposure and outcome data were harmonized using similar definitions and dose reconstruction methods. Standardized mortality ratios (SMR) were estimated. Results: In total, 560 deaths from lung cancer, 503 non-malignant respiratory diseases, 67 renal diseases, 1,596 ischemic heart diseases, and 101 dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD) were detected in the pooled cohort of over 12,400 workers ($1,300 females). Mean cumulative doses were 45 millisievert for whole-body external ionizing radiation exposure and 172 milligray for lung dose from radon decay products. Only SMR for dementia and AD among males was statistically significant (SMR=1.29; 95% confidence interval: 1.04, 1.54). Conclusions: This is the largest study to date to examine long-term health risks of uranium processing workers.

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“…A low-dose organ effect that has to be evaluated on the epidemiological level [27,28], as well as by molecular studies in the obtained DNA material of GUMB, is the leukemia risk induced by chronic cumulative lifetime gamma and alpha radiation exposure in miners. The aim of a current project [29] is to analyze the genetic variants acquired over the lifetime by next-generation sequencing (NGS) of DNA from blood in the miners' samples.…”

Section: High-dose and Low-dose-associated Health Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The German Uranium Miners’ Biobank—A Biobank for OMICs Radiation Research

et al. 2022

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Systematic bio- and databanks are key prerequisites for modern radiation research to investigate radiation response mechanisms in the context of genetic, environmental and lifestyle-associated factors. This report presents the current status of the German Uranium Miners’ Biobank. In 2008, the bio- and databank was established at the Federal Office for Radiation Protection, and the sampling of biological materials from former uranium miners with and without lung cancer was initiated. For this purpose, various biological specimens, such as DNA and RNA, were isolated from blood samples as well as from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded lung tissue. High-quality biomaterials suitable for OMICs research and the associated data on occupational radiation and dust exposure, and medical and lifestyle data from over 1000 individuals have been stored so far. Various experimental data, e.g., genome-wide SNPs, whole genome transcriptomic and miRNA data, as well as individual chromosomal aberration data from subgroups of biobank samples, are already available upon request for in-depth research on radiation-induced long-term effects, individual radiation susceptibility to lung cancer and radon-induced fingerprints in lung cancer. This biobank is the first systematic uranium miners´ biobank worldwide that is suitable for OMICs research on radiation-exposed workers. It offers the opportunity to link radiation-induced perturbations of biological pathways or processes and putative adverse outcome(s) by OMICs profiling at different biological organization levels.

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PUMA – pooled uranium miners analysis: cohort profile

Cited by 32 publications

References 40 publications

Lung Cancer and Radon: Pooled Analysis of Uranium Miners Hired in 1960 or Later

Lung Cancer and Radon: Pooled Analysis of Uranium Miners Hired in 1960 or Later

Cohort profile: four early uranium processing facilities in the US and Canada

The German Uranium Miners’ Biobank—A Biobank for OMICs Radiation Research

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