title: Non-thyroid cancer in Northern Ukraine in the post-Chernobyl period: Short report.
abstract: The Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in Ukraine in 1986 led to widespread radioactive releases into the environment - primarily of radioiodines and cesium - heavily affecting the northern portions of the country, with settlement-averaged thyroid doses estimated to range from 10 mGy to more than 10 Gy. The increased risk of thyroid cancer among exposed children and adolescents is well established but the impact of radioactive contamination on the risk of other types of cancer is much less certain. To provide data on a public health issue of major importance, we have analyzed the incidence of non-thyroid cancers during the post-Chernobyl period in a well-defined cohort of 13,203 individuals who were <18 years of age at the time of the accident. The report is based on standardized incidence ratio (SIR) analysis of 43 non-thyroid cancers identified through linkage with the National Cancer Registry of Ukraine for the period 1998 through 2009. We compared the observed and expected number of cases in three cancer groupings: all solid cancers excluding thyroid, leukemia, and lymphoma. Our analyses found no evidence of a statistically significant elevation in cancer risks in this cohort exposed at radiosensitive ages, although the cancer trends, particularly for leukemia (SIR=1.92, 95% confidence interval: 0.69; 4.13), should continue to be monitored.
authors: Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA. Electronic address: hatchm@mail.nih.gov.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Hatch
authors: Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Ostroumova
authors: Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Brenner
authors: National Cancer Registry of Ukraine, National Cancer Institute, Kiev, Ukraine.
authors: Z
authors: Z
authors: Federenko
authors: National Cancer Registry of Ukraine, National Cancer Institute, Kiev, Ukraine.
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Gorokh
authors: Institute of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Kiev, Ukraine.
authors: O
authors: O
authors: Zvinchuk
authors: Institute of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Kiev, Ukraine.
authors: V
authors: V
authors: Shpak
authors: Institute of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Kiev, Ukraine.
authors: V
authors: V
authors: Tereschenko
authors: Institute of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Kiev, Ukraine.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Tronko
authors: Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Mabuchi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D047852:Chernobyl Nuclear Accident; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D009381:Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012306:Risk; D014455:Ukraine / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Cancer incidence; Chernobyl accident; Ecological study; Ionizing radiation; Standardized incidence ratio