title: Leukemia incidence among people exposed to chronic radiation from the contaminated Techa River, 1953-2005.
abstract: Beginning in 1950, people living on the banks of the Techa River received chronic low-dose-rate internal and external radiation exposures as a result of releases from the Mayak nuclear weapons plutonium production facility in the Southern Urals region of the Russian Federation. The Techa River cohort includes about 30,000 people who resided in riverside villages sometime between 1950 and 1960. Cumulative red bone marrow doses range up to 2 Gy with a mean of 0.3 Gy and a median of 0.2 Gy. Between 1953 and 2005, 93 first primary cases of leukemia, including 23 cases of chronic lymphatic leukemia (CLL), were ascertained among the cohort members. A significant linear dose-response relationship was seen for leukemias other than CLL (P < 0.001), but not for CLL. The estimated excess relative risk per Gy is 4.9 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.6; 14.3) for leukemias other than CLL and less than 0 (95% upper bound 1.4) for CLL.
authors.affiliation: Urals Research Center for Radiation Medicine, 68-a, Vorovsky St., 454076, Chelyabinsk, Russia. ludmila@urcrm.chel.su
authors.forename: Lyudmila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Krestinina
authors.forename: Dale L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Preston
authors.forename: Faith G
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: Svetlana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Epifanova
authors.forename: Evgenia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ostroumova
authors.forename: Elaine
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ron
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Akleyev
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000401:mortality; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009381:Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000401:mortality; D011835:Radiation Protection / Q000592:standards; D018570:Risk Assessment; D045483:Rivers; D012426:Russia / Q000453:epidemiology; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult