Abstract
The results of a previous study suggested that an association between childhood leukaemia and the radiation dose received occupationally by a father before the conception of his child might provide the explanation for the marked excess of childhood leukaemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in the village of Seascale, West Cumbria. The present study identifies other small areas (electoral wards) in West Cumbria where excess cases of leukaemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in young people have occurred and determines whether a recorded dose of radiation was received occupationally by the father before the conception of each of the affected individuals. Forty-one cases of leukaemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma were diagnosed during 1968-85 in young people under 25 years of age resident in the 49 electoral wards lying within the boundary of West Cumbria and the adjacent ward of Broughton. Raised incidence rate ratios (two-sided P<0.01) were found for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia among those aged 0-14 years (concentrated among those aged 0-4 years) in Seascale ward and among those aged 0-24 years (also concentrated among those aged 0-4 years) in Egremont North ward, for acute myeloid leukaemia among those aged 0-14 years in Sandwith ward, for all leukaemias among those aged 0-14 years in Broughton ward (South Lakeland) and for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma among those aged 0-14 years in Seascale ward. For West Cumbria as a whole, incidence rates were not usual. Apart from Seascale, for none of these electoral wards has a father of an affected child been linked definitely to an occupational dose of radiation recorded before the conception of the child. Particularly striking are the excesses of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia cases among young children living in the wards of Seascale and Egremont North, situated 11 km apart. The cases in Egremont North are not associated with recorded doses of radiation received occupationally by fathers before the conception of the affected children, even though the total numbers of children associated with such doses born in Seascale and Egremont North wards are similar. This finding is further evidence against a causal role for paternal preconceptional radiation exposure in the cases of childhood leukaemia in Seascale.
Highlights
In 1984, the Independent Advisory Group confirmed a media report of a substantially raised incidence of leukaemia among children resident in the coastal village of Seascale, situated about 3 km south of the Sellafield nuclear installation in West Cumbria (Independent Advisory Group, 1984)
One of the recommendations of the Group was that a case - control study of leukaemia and lymphoma diagnosed among young people under 25 years of age resident in West Cumbria should be carried out
Subjects are young people with leukaemia and nonHodgkin's lymphoma, diagnosed between 1968 and 1985 while under 25 years of age and resident in the area served by West Cumbria District Health Authority, consisting of Copeland county district and part of Allerdale county district (Figure 1)
Summary
In 1984, the Independent Advisory Group (chaired by Sir Douglas Black) confirmed a media report of a substantially raised incidence of leukaemia among children resident in the coastal village of Seascale, situated about 3 km south of the Sellafield nuclear installation in West Cumbria (Independent Advisory Group, 1984). One of the recommendations of the Group was that a case - control study of leukaemia and lymphoma diagnosed among young people under 25 years of age resident in West Cumbria should be carried out. In 1990, Gardner et al (1990a, b) reported the initial results from a case-control study of such cases among those born in West Cumbria
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