ArticleRadiation and environmental biophysics2017
Background gamma radiation and childhood cancer in Germany: an ecological study.
Article in Radiation and environmental biophysics, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- Epidemiological Studies of Low-Dose Ionizing Radiation and Cancer: Summary Bias Assessment and Meta-Analysis.Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Monographs · 2020Pooled it
- Epidemiological Studies of Low-Dose Ionizing Radiation and Cancer: Rationale and Framework for the Monograph and Overview of Eligible Studies.Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Monographs · 2020Pooled it
- The association between air pollution exposure and childhood cancer: a scoping review about the challenges in epidemiological studies.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Machine learning techniques for the prediction of indoor gamma-ray dose rates - Strengths, weaknesses and implications for epidemiology.Journal of environmental radioactivity · 2025Article
- A Historical Survey of Key Epidemiological Studies of Ionizing Radiation Exposure.Radiation research · 2024Review
- Measurements and determinants of children's exposure to background gamma radiation in Switzerland.Journal of radiation research · 2022Article
- Review of the risk of cancer following low and moderate doses of sparsely ionising radiation received in early life in groups with individually estimated doses.Environment international · 2022Review
- Chemotherapy and Physical Therapeutics Modulate Antigens on Cancer Cells.Frontiers in immunology · 2022Review
- Identification of Genetic Predispositions Related to Ionizing Radiation in Primary Human Skin Fibroblasts From Survivors of Childhood and Second Primary Cancer as Well as Cancer-Free Controls: Protocol for the Nested Case-Control Study KiKme.JMIR research protocols · 2021Article
- Summary of Radiation Research Society Online 66th Annual Meeting, Symposium on "Epidemiology: Updates on epidemiological low dose studies," including discussion.International journal of radiation biology · 2021Article
- A review of studies of childhood cancer and natural background radiation.International journal of radiation biology · 2021Review
- Bayesian spatial modelling of childhood cancer incidence in Switzerland using exact point data: a nationwide study during 1985-2015.International journal of health geographics · 2020Article
- Epidemiological studies of natural sources of radiation and childhood cancer: current challenges and future perspectives.Journal of radiological protection : official journal of the Society for Radiological Protection · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The relationship of low-dose background gamma radiation and childhood leukaemia was investigated in a number of studies. Results from these studies are inconclusive. Therefore, in the present study 25 years of German childhood cancer data were analyzed using interpolated background annual gamma dose rate per community in an ecological study. The main question was leukaemia; as exploratory questions we investigate central nervous system (CNS) tumours, thyroid carcinomas and diagnoses less likely to be related to radiation. A Poisson regression model was applied and a fractional polynomial model building procedure. As the main sensitivity analysis a community deprivation index was included as a potential confounder. It was found that outdoor background gamma annual dose rates in Germany range roughly from 0.5-1.5 mSv/a with an average of 0.817 mSv/a. No association of annual ambient gamma dose rates with leukaemia incidence was found. Amongst the exploratory analyses, a strong association was found with CNS tumour incidence [rate ratio for 1.5 vs 0.5 mSv/a: 1.35; 95% confidence interval (1.17, 1.57)]. The community level deprivation index was not a confounder. It is concluded that the present study did not confirm an association of annual outdoor ambient gamma dose rate and childhood leukaemia, corresponding to some studies and contrasting others. An association with CNS incidence was found in the exploratory analyses. As this is an ecological study no causal interpretation is possible.
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