RECONSTRUCTION OF RADIATION DOSES IN A CASE-CONTROL STUDY OF THYROID CANCER FOLLOWING THE CHERNOBYL ACCIDENT

Abstract

A population-based case-control study of thyroid cancer was carried out in contaminated regions of Belarus and Russia among persons who were exposed during childhood and adolescence to fallout from the Chernobyl accident. For each study subject, individual thyroid doses were reconstructed for the following pathways of exposure: (1) intake of 131I via inhalation and ingestion; (2) intake of short-lived radioiodines (132I, 133I, and 135I) and radiotelluriums (131mTe, 132Te) via inhalation and ingestion; (3) external dose from radionuclides deposited on the ground; and (4) ingestion of 134Cs and 137Cs. A series of intercomparison exercises validated the models used for reconstruction of average doses to populations of specific age groups as well as of individual doses. Median thyroid doses from all factors for study subjects were estimated to be 0.37 and 0.034 Gy in Belarus and Russia, respectively. The highest individual thyroid doses among the subjects were 10.2 Gy in Belarus and 5.3 Gy in Russia. Iodine-131 intake was the main pathway for thyroid exposure. Estimated doses from short-lived radioiodines and radiotelluriums ranged up to 0.53 Gy. Reconstructed individual thyroid doses from external exposure ranged up to 0.1 Gy, while those from internal exposure due to ingested cesium did not exceed 0.05 Gy. The uncertainty of the reconstructed individual thyroid doses, characterized by the geometric standard deviation, varies from 1.7 to 4.0 with a median of 2.2.