[Assessment of radon-induced health risk for occupants of a house built on uranium ore residue].
BACKGROUND
At the request of French public authorities, the Institute of Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety has assessed the radiological situation of a house built on uranium ore residues in Haute-Vienne and the health risks induced from exposure to radon for all occupants. Classified as a lung carcinogen by the World Health Organization, radon is a proven cause of lung cancer in case of regular inhalation over a long period, and the risk increases with cumulative exposure.


METHODS
Radon exposure was reconstructed for various standard profiles of house occupancy. A risk model derived from a European epidemiological study was used to calculate the lifetime probability of death from lung cancer according to these standard profiles.


RESULTS
Risk assessment of the occupants of the house highlighted the following main findings. For a resident school child having been exposed to radon from birth to the age of 7, the lifetime relative risk (LRR) was estimated at 5. For last adult and young adult residents having lived more than 10years in the house, the probability of death from lung cancer was in the same order of magnitude as that of a regular cigarette smoker, with a LRR from 10 to 13 and a lifetime probability of death from lung cancer between 3 and 4%. If these individuals smoked regularly, in addition to being exposed to radon, this probability would be between 6 and 32% (supposing an additive or multiplicative interaction).


CONCLUSIONS
For former occupants (non-smokers) having been exposed 10years during childhood, the LRR was two-fold lower. For children having been in day care in the house, the increased probability of death from lung cancer was low, with a LRR lower than 2. Supposing, as in adults, that the risk decreases beyond 30years after the end of radon exposure, the increase was almost zero for former occupants exposed during childhood and during day care, with a LRR close to 1.
Institut de radioprotection et de sûreté nucléaire, BP 17, 92262 Fontenay-aux-Roses cedex, France. Electronic address: enora.clero@irsn.fr.
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Cléro
Institut de radioprotection et de sûreté nucléaire, BP 17, 92262 Fontenay-aux-Roses cedex, France.
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Marie
Institut de radioprotection et de sûreté nucléaire, BP 17, 92262 Fontenay-aux-Roses cedex, France.
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Challeton-De Vathaire
Institut de radioprotection et de sûreté nucléaire, BP 17, 92262 Fontenay-aux-Roses cedex, France.
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Laurier
Institut de radioprotection et de sûreté nucléaire, BP 17, 92262 Fontenay-aux-Roses cedex, France.
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Rannou
D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006798:Housing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D009381:Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced / Q000453:epidemiology; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011886:Radon / Q000633:toxicity*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D014501:Uranium / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity*
D014501:Uranium; D011886:Radon
Cancer du poumon; Health risk assessment; Lung cancer; Radon; Évaluation du risque sanitaire