*Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242; †Department of Physics, St. John's University, Collegeville, MN 56321.
Health Phys. 2014 May;106(5):535-44. doi: 10.1097/HP.0000000000000004.
The primary objective of this study was to investigate the temporal variability between basement winter short-term (7 to 10 d) and basement annual radon measurements. Other objectives were to test the short-term measurement's diagnostic performance at two reference levels and to evaluate its ability to predict annual average basement radon concentrations. Electret ion chamber (short-term) and alpha track (annual) radon measurements were obtained by trained personnel in Iowa residences. Overall, the geometric mean of the short-term radon concentrations (199 Bq m) was slightly greater than the geometric mean of the annual radon concentrations (181 Bq m). Short-term tests correctly predicted annual radon concentrations to be above the 148 Bq m action level 88% of the time and above a 74 Bq m level 98% of the time. The short-term and annual radon concentrations were strongly correlated (r = 0.87, p < 0.0001). The foundation wall material of the basement was the only significant factor to have an impact on the absolute difference between the short-term and annual measurements. The findings from this study provide evidence of a substantially lower likelihood of obtaining a false negative result from a single short-term test in a region with high indoor radon potential when the reference level is lowered to 74 Bq m.
本研究的主要目的是探讨基底冬季短期（7 至 10 天）和基底年平均氡测量之间的时间可变性。其他目的是测试两种参考水平下短期测量的诊断性能，并评估其预测基底年平均氡浓度的能力。在爱荷华州的住宅中，由经过培训的人员进行驻极体电离室（短期）和α径迹（年）氡测量。总体而言，短期氡浓度的几何平均值（199 Bq m）略高于年平均氡浓度的几何平均值（181 Bq m）。短期测试正确预测年平均氡浓度有 88%的时间高于 148 Bq m 的行动水平，有 98%的时间高于 74 Bq m 的水平。短期和年平均氡浓度之间存在很强的相关性（r = 0.87，p < 0.0001）。地下室基础墙材料是对短期和年测量之间绝对差异有影响的唯一显著因素。本研究的结果为在高室内氡潜在地区，当参考水平降低到 74 Bq m 时，单次短期测试获得假阴性结果的可能性大大降低提供了证据。
