Breast cancer risk from low-dose exposures to ionizing radiation: results of parallel analysis of three exposed populations of women.
Breast cancer incidence data were analyzed from three populations of women exposed to ionizing radiation: survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs, patients in Massachusetts tuberculosis sanitoria who were exposed to multiple chest fluoroscopies, and patients treated by X-rays for acute postpartum mastitis in Rochester, New York. Parallel analyses by radiation dose, age at exposure, and time after exposure suggested that risk of radiation-induced cancer increased approximately linearly with increasing dose and was heavily dependent on age at exposure; however, the risk was otherwise remarkably similar among the three population, at least for age 10-40 years at exposure, and followed the same temporal pattern of occurrence as did breast cancer incidence in nonexposed women of similar ages.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D002648:Child; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008404:Massachusetts; D008875:Middle Aged; D008954:Models, Biological; D009381:Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009502:Neutrons; D009518:New York; D009689:Nuclear Warfare; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D012042:Registries; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012062:Relative Biological Effectiveness; D012306:Risk; D013997:Time Factors; D014965:X-Rays