A parallel analysis of individual and ecological data on residential radonand lung cancer in south-west England

Parallel individual and ecological analyses of data on residential radon ha ve been performed using information on cases of lung cancer and population controls from a recent study in south-west England. For the individual anal ysis the overall results indicated that the relative risk of lung cancer at 100 Bq m(-3) compared with at 0 Bq m(-3) was 1.12 (95% confidence interval (0.99, 1.27)) after adjusting for age, sex, smoking, county of residence a nd social class. In the ecological analysis substantial bias in the estimat ed effect of radon was present for one of the two counties involved unless an additional variable, urban-rural status, was included in the model, alth ough this variable was not an important confounder in the individual level analysis. Most of the methods that have been recommended for overcoming the limitations of ecological studies would not in practice have proved useful in identifying this variable as an appreciable source of bias.