Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40676180›Full record

ArticleRadiation and environmental biophysics2025

Exposure to radon progeny and cancer mortality, excluding lung cancer, in the cohort of Newfoundland Fluorspar Miners between 1950 and 2016.

Paul J Villeneuve, Howard I Morrison, Rachel S D Lane

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Radiation and environmental biophysics, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Paul J VilleneuveDepartment of Neuroscience, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON, Ontario, K1S 5B6, Canada. Paul.Villeneuve@carleton.ca.ORCID 0000-0001-7786-7997
Howard I MorrisonUniversity of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
Rachel S D LaneCanadian Nuclear Safety Commission, Ottawa, ON, Canada.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The increased risk of lung cancer from radon progeny among Newfoundland fluorspar miners is well established. In the present study, an internal cohort analysis was conducted to investigate whether radon progeny is also associated with increased mortality from other cancers. Consequently, associations between cumulative radon progeny and cancer mortality (excluding lung cancer) were evaluated in a cohort of 2,110 miners. Mortality was ascertained from 1950 to 2016. Individual-level exposure to radon progeny in working level months (WLM) was determined for each miner during their employment. For cancers with at least ten deaths, Poisson regression was used to estimate excess relative risks (ERRs). Cancer site-specific relative risks were derived for mortality from common cancers within the cohort, specifically: colorectal, prostate, stomach and all cancers (excluding lung cancer). Relative risks were adjusted for age, calendar period, and the number of cigarettes smoked daily determined from smoking surveys. In total, 260 cancer deaths, excluding lung cancer, were identified during follow-up. The relative risk of death from these cancers was 1.26 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.92, 1.75) among underground miners with a cumulative exposure of ≥ 50 WLM when compared to those with < 1 WLM. The ERR per 100 WLM for cancer mortality (excluding lung cancer) was 0.02 (95% CI=-0.01 to 0.05). No statistically significant increased risks with increasing exposure were found for bladder, colorectal, pancreatic, and stomach cancer. Overall, these findings provide modest evidence that radon progeny contributes to increased risks of cancer mortality (excluding lung cancer) among fluorspar miners. However, the precision of the estimates is limited by the small size of the cohort, which restricts the ability to draw firm conclusions regarding specific cancer sites. Future research should consider pooling data from radon-exposed occupational cohorts to better understand the association between radon exposure and the risk of cancers other than lung cancer.

Indexed as

MiningNeoplasms, Radiation-InducedOccupational ExposureRadonRadon DaughtersAdultAgedCohort StudiesFemaleHumansLung NeoplasmsMaleMiddle AgedNewfoundland and LabradorOccupational DiseasesRadonRadon DaughtersCancerCohort studyMiningMortalityOccupationRadon

Identifiers

PMID40676180
PMCPMC12350461

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.