Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41491845›Full record

ArticleCommunications medicine2026

Dose-related association between radiation exposure from computed tomography (CT) scans during trauma hospitalizations and subsequent risk of developing new-onset cancers.

Lai Kin Yaw, Swithin Song, Kwok Ming Ho

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Article in Communications medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Lai Kin YawDepartment of Intensive Care, Fiona Stanley Hospital, Murdoch, WA, Australia.
Swithin SongDepartment of Radiology, Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, WA, Australia.
Kwok Ming HoDepartment of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China. kmho@cuhk.edu.hk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6705-6004

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe association between radiation dose from Computed Tomography (CT) and subsequent cancer risk in adults remains poorly defined.

methodsWe conducted a statewide cohort study to examine the relationship between CT-related radiation exposure - measured by dose-length-product (DLP) - and cancer outcomes among adult trauma patients in Western Australia from 2004 to 2020. Patients with a documented cancer diagnosis within five years prior to trauma were excluded.

resultsAfter excluding patients with missing smoking data (n = 12,690), 2662 patients (17.3%) are included in the primary analysis. The cohort is predominantly male (75.8%), with a median age of 41 years (IQR: 27-58) and a median Injury Severity Score (ISS) of 17 (IQR: 16-22). Over a median follow-up of 5.9 years (IQR: 4.0-7.9), 374 patients (14.0%) died, including 21 cancer-related deaths (0.8%), accounting for 5.6% of all deaths. During the index trauma admission, patients underwent a median of 6 X-rays (IQR: 3-12) and 3 CT scans (IQR:1-5) with a median DLP of 1,941 mGy*cm (IQR: 637-3,388). DLP and absorbed radiation dose are significantly correlated with injury severity (Pearson r = 0.209 and 0.265, respectively; both p = 0.001). Radiation exposure is significantly associated with increased risk of new-onset cancer (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR]: 1.08 per 1,000 mGy*cm increment in DLP; 95%CI: 1.01-1.16; p = 0.042) and cancer-related mortality (aHR 3.35 for those exposed to >5000 mGy*cm; 95%CI: 1.20-9.38; p = 0.021). These findings are consistent in a larger cohort of 15,352 patients after multiple imputation for missing smoking data.

conclusionsCT-related radiation exposure during trauma hospitalizations is associated with a dose-dependent increase in the risk of subsequent cancer incidence and mortality.

Identifiers

PMID41491845
PMCPMC12881511

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