1st Edition
The Million Person Study of Low-Dose Radiation Health Effects
This book presents original research findings of The Million Person Study of Low-Dose Radiation Health Effects (MPS), the largest and most comprehensive epidemiologic study of its kind to investigate the health effects of low-level chronic radiation exposure on American workers and veterans throughout the 20th century.
Since the early 1900s, epidemiologists have studied the consequences of radiation exposures, yet the health effects of low levels received gradually over time remain unresolved. This uncertainty comes at a time when the public and workers are experiencing ever-increasing levels of radiation exposure from advances in medical radiation imaging techniques (e.g., CT scans), frequent flying at high altitudes, and environmental and occupational exposures. The MPS is providing answers by studying 30 radiation-exposed U.S. populations, including workers at nuclear power plants, radiologists, workers at former Manhattan Project sites, nuclear submariners, nuclear weapons test participants (atomic veterans), industrial radiographers, and radium dial painters. Ongoing for more than 20 years and coordinated by the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the MPS is a national effort supported by the Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, U.S. Navy, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Unparalleled in scope and quality, the MPS provides an understanding of low-dose health effects that is desperately needed for decision makers and the radiation protection community as society continues to increase the uses of radiation technologies. Individual chapters were originally published in the International Journal of Radiation Biology.
INTRODUCTIONS
1. Introduction to the U.S. Million Person Study of health effects from low-level exposure to radiation
John D. Boice Jr, André Bouville, Lawrence T. Dauer, Ashley P. Golden, and Richard Wakeford
2. Radiation in the workplace – an opportunity for substantial epidemiological evidence
Richard Wakeford
REVIEWS
3. The Million Person Study, whence it came and why
John D. Boice Jr, Sarah S. Cohen, Michael T. Mumma, and Elizabeth D. Ellis
4. The Million Person Study relevance to space exploration and Mars
John D. Boice Jr
5. Historical perspective on the Department of Energy mortality studies: focus on the collection and storage of individual worker data
Elizabeth D. Ellis, David Girardi, Ashley P. Golden, Phil W. Wallace, Joyce Phillips, and Donna L. Cragle
6. 50 Years of the Radiation Exposure Information and Reporting System and importance to the Million Person Study
Derek Hagemeyer, Greg Nichols, Michael T. Mumma, John D. Boice Jr, and Terry Brock
METHODS
7. Evaluation of statistical modeling approaches for epidemiologic studies of low-dose radiation health effects
Ashley P. Golden, Sarah S. Cohen, Heidi Chen, Elizabeth D. Ellis, and John D. Boice Jr
8. Obtaining vital status and cause of death on a million persons
Michael T. Mumma, Sarah S. Cohen, Jennifer L. Sirko, Elizabeth D. Ellis, and John D. Boice Jr
9. Validating the use of census data on education as a measure of socioeconomic status
Sarah S. Cohen, Michael T. Mumma, Elizabeth D. Ellis, and John D. Boice Jr
10. Cohort profile - MSKCC radiation workers: a pilot sub-cohort of a multicenter medical radiation worker component of the Million Person Study of low-dose radiation health effects
Lawrence T. Dauer, Meghan Woods, Daniel Miodownik, Brian Serencsits, Brian Quinn, Michael Bellamy, Craig Yoder, Xiaolin Liang, John D. Boice Jr, and Jonine Bernstein
DOSIMETRY
11. Dosimetry and uncertainty approaches for the million-worker study of radiation workers and veterans: overview of the recommendations in NCRP Report No. 178
Lawrence T. Dauer, André Bouville, Richard E. Toohey, John D. Boice Jr, Harold L. Beck, Keith F. Eckerman, Derek Hagemeyer, Richard W. Leggett, Michael T. Mumma, Bruce Napier, Kathy H. Pryor, Marvin Rosenstein, David A. Schauer, Sami Sherbini, Daniel O. Stram, James L. Thompson, John E. Till, R. Craig Yoder, and Cary Zeitlin
12. Dosimetry associated with veterans who participated in nuclear weapons testing
John E. Till, Harold L. Beck, Jill W. Aanenson , Helen A. Grogan, H. Justin Mohler, S. Shawn Mohler, and Paul G. Voillequé
13. Dosimetry for the study of medical radiation workers with a focus on the mean absorbed dose to the lung, brain and other organs
R. Craig Yoder, Lawrence T. Dauer, Stephen Balter, John D Boice Jr, Helen A. Grogan, Michael T. Mumma, Christopher N. Passmore, Lawrence N. Rothenberg, and Richard J. Vetter
14. MPS dose reconstruction for internal emitters: some site-specific issues and approaches
Richard W. Leggett, Keith F. Eckerman, and Michael Bellamy
15. Potential improvements in brain dose estimates for internal emitters
Richard W. Leggett, Sergei Y. Tolmachev, and John D. Boice Jr
EPIDEMIOLOGY
16. Mortality from leukemia, cancer and heart disease among U.S. nuclear power plant workers, 1957-2011
John D. Boice Jr., Sarah S. Cohen, Michael T. Mumma, Derek Hagemeyer, Heidi Chen, Ashley P. Golden, R. Craig Yoder, and Lawrence T. Dauer
17. Mortality among U.S. military participants at eight aboveground nuclear weapons test series
John D. Boice Jr, Sarah S. Cohen, Michael T. Mumma, Heidi Chen, Ashley P. Golden, and John E. Till
18. Updated mortality analysis of the Mallinckrodt uranium processing workers, 1942-2012
Ashley P. Golden, Elizabeth D. Ellis, Sarah S. Cohen, Michael T. Mumma, Richard W. Leggett, Phil W. Wallace, David J. Girardi, Janice P. Watkins, Roy E. Shore, and John D. Boice Jr
19. Mortality among workers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, 1943-2017
John D. Boice Jr, Sarah S. Cohen, Michael T. Mumma, Ashley P. Golden, Sara C. Howard, David J. Girardi, Elizabeth D. Ellis, Michael Bellamy, Lawrence T. Dauer, Caleigh Samuels, Keith F. Eckerman, and Richard W. Leggett
20. Mortality among Tennessee Eastman Corporation (TEC) uranium processing workers
John D. Boice, Jr, Sarah S. Cohen, Michael T. Mumma, Ashley P. Golden, Sara C.
Howard, David J. Girardi, Elizabeth D. Ellis, Michael B. Bellamy, Lawrence T. Dauer,
Keith F. Eckerman, and Richard W. Leggett.
21. Mortality among medical radiation workers in the United States, 1965-2016.
John D. Boice, Jr., Sarah S. Cohen, Michael T. Mumma, Sara C. Howard, R. Craig Yoder, and Lawrence T. Dauer
22. Radium dial workers: back to the future
Nicole E. Martinez, Derek W. Jokisch, Lawrence T. Dauer, Keith F. Eckerman, Ronald E. Goans, John D. Brockman, Sergey Y. Tolmachev, Maia Avtandilashvili, Michael T. Mumma, John D. Boice Jr, and Richard W. Leggett
23. Sex-specific lung cancer risk among radiation workers in the Million Person Study and among TB-fluoroscopy patients
John D. Boice Jr, Elizabeth D. Ellis, Ashley P. Golden, Lydia B. Zablotska, Michael T. Mumma, and Sarah S. Cohen
24. Asbestos exposure and mesothelioma mortality among atomic veterans
John E. Till, Harold L. Beck, John D. Boice Jr, H. Justin Mohler, Michael T. Mumma, Jill W. Aanenson, and Helen A. Grogan
25. Mesothelioma mortality within two radiation monitored occupational cohorts
Michael T. Mumma, Jennifer L. Sirko, John D. Boice Jr, and William J. Blot
MEETING REPORT
26. A million persons, a million dreams: a vision for a National Center for Radiation Epidemiology and Biology
John D. Boice Jr, Brian Quinn, Isaf Al-Nabulsi, Armin Ansari, Paul K. Blake, Steve R. Blattnig, Emily A. Caffrey, Sarah S. Cohen, Ashley P. Golden, Kathryn D. Held, Derek W. Jokisch, Richard W. Leggett, Michael T. Mumma, Caleigh Samuels, John E. Till, Sergei Y. Tolmachev, R. Craig Yoder, Joey Y. Zhou, and Lawrence T. Dauer
Biography
John D. Boice Jr is past President of NCRP and Professor of Epidemiology at Vanderbilt University. He served on the Main Commission of the International Commission on Radiological Protection and on the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation. He directs the Million Person Study of Low-Dose Health Effects.
André Bouville is a leading expert on radiation dose reconstruction. He was Head of the Dosimetry Unit of the Radiation Epidemiology Branch at NCI until he retired in 2010. He chaired NCRP SC 6-9 on the dosimetry for the Million Person Study, producing NCRP Report No. 178.
Lawrence T. Dauer is Attending Physicist specializing in radiation protection at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in theDepartments of Medical Physics and Radiology. He is a Council and former Board member of the NCRP, served on ICRP Committee 3, Protection in Medicine, and is Scientific Director for the Million Person Study.
Ashley P. Golden is Senior Director of ORISE Health Studies at Oak Ridge Associated Universities where she conducts multidisciplinary projects in occupational epidemiology, biostatistics, radiation exposure and dosimetry, medical surveillance, and environmental assessments.
Richard Wakeford is Honorary Professor in Epidemiology in the Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health at The University of Manchester, United Kingdom, where he specializes in radiation epidemiology. Professor Wakeford has served on UNSCEAR, ICRP, NCRP, UK and EU committees throughout his career.
