A mortality follow-up study of WWII submariners who received nasopharyngeal radium irradiation treatment

Background During World War II, large numbers of submarine trainees receive d nasopharyngeal radium irradiation therapy to treat aerotitis media or mid dle ear barotrauma. Methods Using a life table and the Cox proportional hazards model, mortalit y risk of 1,214 submariners believed to have received treatment for aerotit is media was compared to 3,176 "untreated" submariners. Results "Treated" submariners had a significant increased mortality risk fo r all causes (odds ratio (OR)=1.32; 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.14-1.53) and circulatory diseases (OR = 1.51; 95% CI=1.20-1.90), and a non-signific ant increased mortality risk of head and neck cancer (OR = 1.40; 95% CI = 0 .54-3.58). Conclusions While the excess risk was not statistically significant by conv entional standards, the finding does suggest that those who received NP rad ium irradiation therapy may be at increased risk of death due to head and n eck cancers. Due to the lack of data the role of risk factors other than ra dium exposure cannot be assessed. Published 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.