title: Cardiovascular disease mortality of A-bomb survivors and the healthy survivor selection effect.
abstract: The latest A-bomb survivor data for cardiovascular diseases are analysed to investigate whether in the first years after the bombings the baseline rates of proximal survivors were markedly different compared with those of the distal survivors. This phenomenon relates to a healthy survivor selection effect. This question is important for the decision whether to include or exclude the early years of follow-up when analysing the biological effects from acute low and high dose exposures following the nuclear weapons explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The present study shows that for cerebrovascular diseases and heart diseases the baseline rates are not significantly different in the first two decades of follow-up. Thus, for these two detrimental health outcomes, there is no need to exclude distal survivors and the first decades of follow-up time when investigating the shapes of the related dose-responses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Sciences, Institute of Radiation Protection, Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health, D-85764 Neuherberg, Germany schoellnberger@helmholtz-muenchen.de.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schöllnberger
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Radiation Effects Research Foundation, 5-2 Hijiyama-koen, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 732-0815, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ozasa
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pathology, Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health, D-85764 Neuherberg, Germany.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Neff
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Sciences, Institute of Radiation Protection, Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health, D-85764 Neuherberg, Germany.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Kaiser
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality*; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009381:Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality*; D009689:Nuclear Warfare; D011379:Prognosis; D011832:Radiation Injuries / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality*; D018788:Radioactive Hazard Release; D015996:Survival Rate; D017741:Survivors; D013997:Time Factors