RADIUM DIAL WORKERS - ISSUES CONCERNING DOSE-RESPONSE AND MODELING

The mortality pattern of women who began employment as luminizers in t he radium dial industry before 1930 was followed through 1990. Hazard models with time-dependent covariates were used on mortality data eith er organized by individual death times or grouped into cross-classifie d person-year tables. These models were used to quantify trends in mor tality associated with either death from or diagnosis of bone sarcoma or head carcinoma, The accumulation of skeletal doses from Ra-226 and Ra-228 was an important predictor of the risk of death from bone sarco ma. Women exposed to Ra-226 at ages associated with active bone growth were at greater risk of bone sarcoma than women receiving even larger exposures at an age when their skeletons would have been fully develo ped. Exposure to only Ra-226 was found to be an important predictor of risk for carcinoma of the mastoid air cells and paranasal sinuses. Fo r the cranial sites, where adult dimensions are attained early in life , an effect of age at exposure could not be detected. (C) 1997 by Radi ation Research Society.