THE SHORTEN LIFE EXPECTANCY IN WORKERS IN RELATION TO DIFFERENT HISTOLOGICAL TYPES OF LUNG CANCER AND ABSORBED DOSE TO LUNGS FROM PLUTONIUM-239

Abstract

The assessment of the effect of incorporated Plutonium-239 on the life expectancy in Mayak PA employees was executed on the basis of the analysis of the mortality rate and the age of death in relation to different histological types of lung cancer as lungs is one of the main organs of deposition of the nuclide. 2321 male workers of Mayak PA employed in 1948-1958 (1709 deceased and 612 alive) were included in the analysis. For different histological types, the values of the decline of life expectancy (proportion of workers that failed to attain the age of 65 years and potential years of life lost) in Mayak PA workers that had died from lung cancer were assessed in relation to incorporated Plutonium-239. As a result of the study of the reduction in the life expectancy, the increase in the number of workers that failed to attain the age of 65 years and the gain in potential years of life lost in Mayak PA workers that had died from lung cancer with absorbed dose to lungs from Plutonium-239 exceeding 1cGy was observed in relation to all the known histological types of lung cancer such as adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and other epithelial neoplasms. However, according to the relative risk for changes observed, these effects were three times more clearly marked in the case of adenocarcinoma in comparison to other histological types of lung cancer. Such significant decline in the life expectancy in the case of adenocarcinoma was detected by both the increased mortality rate and a larger amount of untimely deaths i.e. the decreased age of the death. The comprising of life expectancy in the case of squamous cell carcinoma was less significant and was mostly detected relying upon the increased mortality rate and non-reliable trend for untimely deaths. In relation to other types of epithelial cancer, the decline in life expectancy was approximately the same as in the case of squamous cell carcinoma, though in contrast to the latter it was determined due to the increased mortality rate only. The results obtained lay the foundation for the basis for, in the first place, the comparative quantitative assessment of the contribution of increased mortality and untimely death rate to the decline in life expectancy in relation to different histological lung cancer types among Mayak PA workers, and, in the second place, for evaluation of health damage based on person-years of life lost.