Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Grupo de Investigación Promoción de la Salud y Prevención de la Enfermedad (GIPSPE), Departamento de Salud Pública, Universidad de Caldas, Manizales 170002, Colombia.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Jan 29;18(3):1228. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18031228.
Radon is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless noble gas, causally related with the onset of lung cancer. We aimed to describe the distribution of radon exposure in the municipality of Manizales, Colombia, in order to estimate the population's exposure and establish the percentage of dwellings that surpass reference levels. A cross-sectional study representing all geographical areas was carried out by measuring indoor radon concentrations. Participants answered a short questionnaire. Alpha-track type radon detectors were installed in all residences for six months. The detectors were subsequently processed at the Galician Radon Laboratory, an accredited laboratory at the University of Santiago de Compostela. A total of 202 homes were measured. Seventy-seven percent of the sampled houses were three stories high, their median age was 30 years, and half were inhabited by three people or fewer. For most dwellings, the building materials of walls and flooring were brick and covered cement, respectively. Results showed a geometric mean of radon concentration of 8.5 Bq/m and a maximum value of 50 Bq/m. No statistically significant differences were found either between the geometric mean of the dwelling's site, the height at which detectors were placed inside the home, or the wall and flooring materials, or between mean Rn concentrations in rural and urban areas. No dwelling surpassed the Rn reference level established by the WHO. This study shows that residential radon levels in Manizales, Colombia, seem to be low, though a more in-depth approach should be carried out. Despite these results, it is essential to create a national radon program and establish a radon concentration reference level for Colombia in line with international recommendations.
氡是一种无色、无味、无臭的惰性气体，与肺癌的发生有因果关系。我们旨在描述哥伦比亚马拉开涅斯市氡暴露的分布情况，以估计该人群的暴露情况并确定超过参考水平的住宅比例。通过测量室内氡浓度进行了一项代表所有地理区域的横断面研究。参与者回答了一份简短的问卷。在所有住宅中安装了α-track 型氡探测器，为期六个月。随后在加利西亚氡实验室（圣地亚哥德孔波斯特拉大学认可的实验室）对探测器进行处理。共测量了 202 所房屋。抽样房屋中 77%为三层高，中位数年龄为 30 年，有一半居住人数为 3 人或更少。对于大多数住宅，墙壁和地板的建筑材料分别为砖和覆盖水泥。结果显示，氡浓度的几何平均值为 8.5 Bq/m，最大值为 50 Bq/m。在住宅所在地的几何平均值、探测器在住宅内放置的高度、墙壁和地板材料之间，以及农村和城市地区的平均 Rn 浓度之间，均未发现统计学差异。没有一个住宅超过世界卫生组织制定的 Rn 参考水平。本研究表明，哥伦比亚马拉开涅斯市的住宅氡水平似乎较低，但需要进行更深入的研究。尽管有这些结果，仍有必要制定一项全国性的氡计划，并根据国际建议为哥伦比亚建立一个氡浓度参考水平。
