title: Health risks from radium in workplaces: an unfinished story.
abstract: The classic health effects of occupational exposure to radium include osteosarcomas and fibrosarcomas of bone, carcinomas of paranasal sinuses and mastoid air cells, and microscopically and radiographically evident lesions of bone, along with fractures in highly exposed individuals. Among probable effects are breast cancer and acceleration of cataracts. Thyroid carcinoma is a possible high-dose effect. Leukemia is likely related to employment in the radium industry. Multiple myeloma and excess lung cancer may have resulted from high gamma radiation and radon exposures rather than from internal radium. At high doses, impairment of fertility has occurred. Further investigations of effects on the cardiovascular system and hearing, and on fracture-related disability very late in life, are needed.
authors.affiliation: Midwest Epidemiology Associates, Naperville, Illinois 60540-3737, USA.
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Stebbings
mesh_terms: D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000528:radiation effects; D006283:Health Physics; D006801:Humans; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D010255:Paranasal Sinus Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology; D011883:Radium / Q000009:adverse effects*; D017132:Workplace
chemical_list: D011883:Radium