Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Am J Epidemiol. 2012 Nov 1;176(9):808-14. doi: 10.1093/aje/kws198. Epub 2012 Oct 7.
Radon is a known cause of human lung cancer. Previously, the authors observed a significant positive association between mean county-level residential radon concentrations and lung cancer mortality in the Cancer Prevention Study II (CPS-II), a large prospective study of nearly 1.2 million participants recruited in 1982 by the American Cancer Society. There was also a significant positive association with mortality from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Because it is unclear whether radon is associated with mortality from other malignant or nonmalignant disease, the authors examined the association between radon and nonrespiratory mortality in the CPS-II. Mean county-level residential radon concentrations (mean = 53.5 (standard deviation: 38.0) Bq/m(3)) were linked to participants by their zip code at enrollment. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals for all-cause (excluding lung cancer and respiratory mortality) and cause-specific mortality associated with radon concentrations. A total of 811,961 participants in 2,754 counties were analyzed, including 265,477 deaths through 2006. There were no clear associations between radon and nonrespiratory mortality in the CPS-II. These findings suggest that residential radon is not associated with any other mortality beyond lung cancer or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
氡是人类肺癌的已知病因。此前，作者在一项大型前瞻性研究——癌症预防研究 II（CPS-II）中观察到，县一级住宅氡浓度的平均值与肺癌死亡率之间存在显著的正相关，该研究由美国癌症协会于 1982 年招募了近 120 万名参与者。与慢性阻塞性肺疾病死亡率也存在显著的正相关。由于尚不清楚氡是否与其他恶性或非恶性疾病的死亡率有关，作者在 CPS-II 中检查了氡与非呼吸道死亡率之间的关系。县一级住宅氡浓度的平均值（平均值=53.5（标准差=38.0）Bq/m3）通过参与者在登记时的邮政编码与他们联系起来。使用 Cox 比例风险回归模型来估计与所有原因（不包括肺癌和呼吸道死亡率）和与氡浓度相关的特定原因死亡率相关的调整后的危险比和 95%置信区间。共分析了 2754 个县的 811961 名参与者，包括截至 2006 年的 265477 例死亡。在 CPS-II 中，氡与非呼吸道死亡率之间没有明显的关联。这些发现表明，住宅氡与肺癌或慢性阻塞性肺疾病以外的任何其他死亡率无关。
