A long-term cohort study of the atomic-bomb survivors.
The Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC), the predecessor of the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF), was established in 1947 to conduct long-term, comprehensive epidemiological and genetic studies of the atomic-bomb (A-bomb) survivors. Today this study still depends upon the voluntary cooperation of several tens of thousands of survivors of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. An in-depth follow-up study of mortality in the study population of 120,000 persons, including A-bomb survivors and controls, has continued since 1950. The study of tumor incidence was initiated through record linkage with a tumor registry system in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1958. In the same year, biennial medical examinations of 20,000 individuals began. Follow-up studies also have been conducted on in-utero-exposed persons and first-generation offspring of the survivors. On the basis of these studies spanning nearly half a century, we know that the occurrence of leukemia and cancers associated with A-bomb radiation is higher than among the non-exposed. Among the A-bomb survivors, radiation cataracts, hyperparathyroidism, delayed growth and development, and chromosomal aberrations also occur more often. However, to date no evidence exists of genetic effects in the children of A-bomb survivors. It should be kept in mind that such study results could never be obtained without the cooperation of A-bomb survivors.
Kodama
K
K
Department of Clinical Studies, Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF), Hiroshima, Japan.
Mabuchi
K
K
Shigematsu
I
I
D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D007953:Leukemia, Radiation-Induced / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009381:Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009689:Nuclear Warfare; D011832:Radiation Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013997:Time Factors