Leukemia in Utah and radioactive fallout from the Nevada test site. A case-control study
W. Stevens, D. C. Thomas, J. L. Lyon, J. E. Till, R. A. Kerber, S. L. Simon, R. D. Lloyd, N. A. Elghany and S. Preston-Martin
Department of Anatomy, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City.
Previous studies reported an association between leukemia rates and amounts
of fallout in southwestern Utah from nuclear tests (1952 to 1958), but
individual radiation exposures were unavailable. Therefore, a case-control
study with 1177 individuals who died of leukemia and 5330 other deaths
(controls) was conducted using estimates of dose to bone marrow computed
from fallout deposition rates and subjects' residence locations. A weak
association between bone marrow dose and all types of leukemia, all ages,
and all time periods after exposure was found. This overall trend was not
statistically significant, but significant trends in excess risk were found
in subgroups defined by cell type, age, and time after exposure. The
greatest excess risk was found in those individuals in the high-dose group
with acute leukemia who were younger than 20 years at exposure and who died
before 1964. These results are consistent with previous studies and with
risk estimates for other populations exposed to radiation.
