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Leukemia incidence among people exposed to chronic radiation from the contaminated Techa River, 1953–2005

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Abstract

Beginning in 1950, people living on the banks of the Techa River received chronic low-dose-rate internal and external radiation exposures as a result of releases from the Mayak nuclear weapons plutonium production facility in the Southern Urals region of the Russian Federation. The Techa River cohort includes about 30,000 people who resided in riverside villages sometime between 1950 and 1960. Cumulative red bone marrow doses range up to 2 Gy with a mean of 0.3 Gy and a median of 0.2 Gy. Between 1953 and 2005, 93 first primary cases of leukemia, including 23 cases of chronic lymphatic leukemia (CLL), were ascertained among the cohort members. A significant linear dose–response relationship was seen for leukemias other than CLL (P < 0.001), but not for CLL. The estimated excess relative risk per Gy is 4.9 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.6; 14.3) for leukemias other than CLL and less than 0 (95% upper bound 1.4) for CLL.

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Acknowledgments

This work (epidemiological and dosimetry investigations) has been supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Health Studies and by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute. The Federal Department of the Russian Ministry of Health has also provided support for all aspects of this study. Many people have made important contributions to this study. We acknowledge the contributions of Marina Degteva, Nikolai Startsev, Catherine Zhidkova, and physicians of URCRM clinical Department.

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Correspondence to Lyudmila Krestinina.

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This paper is based on a presentation given at the International Conference on Late Health Effects of Ionizing Radiation, 4–6 May 2009, Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA.

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Krestinina, L., Preston, D.L., Davis, F.G. et al. Leukemia incidence among people exposed to chronic radiation from the contaminated Techa River, 1953–2005. Radiat Environ Biophys 49, 195–201 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00411-009-0257-5

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