title: Numbers and proportions of leukemias in young people and adults induced by radiation of natural origin.
abstract: Natural sources contribute a large fraction of the radiation exposure of the general public. Under the linear no-threshold hypothesis risk decreases in proportion to decreasing dose without a threshold. We use recent estimates of doses to the red bone marrow to calculate the number and proportion of cases of leukemia in England induced by natural radiation. We calculate that about 5% of cases of leukemia, excluding chronic lymphocytic leukemia, up to the age of 80 years are induced by this background radiation. In young people up to the age of 25 years the attributable fraction is about 15%, substantially lower than a previous estimate.
authors.affiliation: Childhood Cancer Research Group, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. Gerald.Kendall@ccrg.ox.ac.uk
authors.forename: Gerald
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kendall
authors.forename: Mark P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Little
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wakeford
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001417:Background Radiation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000528:radiation effects*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007953:Leukemia, Radiation-Induced / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D011839:Radiation, Ionizing; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D015996:Survival Rate; D055815:Young Adult