Parity, birthweight, and cortisol

Abstract

Unusually high indoor radon concentrations were reported in a small village in western Tyrol, Austria. The authors have measured the seasonal course of indoor radon concentrations in 390 houses of this village. 71% of houses in winter and 33% in summer, showed radon values on the ground floor above the Austrian action level of 400 Bq/cm[sup 3]. This proportion results in an unusually high indoor radon exposure of the population. The radon source was an 8,700-year-old rock slide of granite gneiss, the largest of the alpine crystalline rocks. It has a strong emanating power because its rocks are heavily fractured and show a slightly increased uranium content. Previous reports show increased lung cancer mortality, myeloid leukemia, kidney cancer, melanoma, and prostate cancer resulting from indoor radon exposure. However, many studies fail to provide accurate information on indoor radon concentrations, classifying them merely as low, intermediate, and high, or they record only minor increases in indoor radon concentrations. Mortality data for 1970-91 were used to calculate age and sex standardized mortality rates (SMR) for 51 sites of carcinoma. The total population of Tyrol were controls. A significantly higher risk was recorded for lung cancer. The high SMR for lung cancer inmore » female subjects is especially striking. Because the numbers were low for the other cancer sites, these were combined in one group to calculate the SMR. No significant increase in SMR was found for this group.« less