Long-term effects of radium exposure in female dial workers: Liver function and liver disease

Abstract

The question of the long-term effects of α-emitting radionuclides on the liver is of considerable interest. Liver function test results and data on the prevalence of and mortality from diseases of the liver and biliary tract were examined among women who were first employed before 1930 in the U.S. radium watch-dial painting industry, and who had a radium body-burden measurement while living (1958–1976). There was little evidence for a relationship between radium intake dose (initial systemic burden in μCi) and serum levels of albumin, total bilirubin, glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT), or cholesterol in 142 long-term survivors, using both univariate and multivariate statistical analyses. Mean SGOT level was significantly higher in the highest intake-dose (⩾50 μCi) than in the lower intake-dose groups, suggesting the need for continued clinical follow-up. Among 264 women with a serum alkaline phosphatase determination, a lack of significant association with intake-dose was noted. The prevalence of diagnosed diseases of the liver or biliary tract (i.e., cirrhosis, infectious hepatitis, and cholecystitis) was not significantly related to intake-dose level in 683 women, nor were the observed numbers of deaths from cirrhosis of the liver or liver cancer significantly increased relative to the U.S. white female population. The findings were discussed in terms of estimated absorbed (rad) doses and in relation to the findings of studies on other radiation-exposed human populations.