A cohort study of thyroid cancer and other thyroid diseases after the Chornobyl accident: dose-response analysis of thyroid follicular adenomas detected during first screening in Ukraine (1998-2000)

Am J Epidemiol. 2008 Feb 1;167(3):305-12. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwm301. Epub 2007 Nov 6.

Abstract

The Chornobyl (Chernobyl) accident in 1986 exposed many individuals to radioactive iodines, chiefly (131)I, the effects of which on benign thyroid diseases are largely unknown. To investigate the risk of follicular adenoma in relation to radiation dose after Chornobyl, the authors analyzed the baseline data from a prospective screening cohort study of those exposed as children or adolescents. A stratified random sample was selected from all individuals who were younger than 18 years, had thyroid radioactivity measurements taken within 2 months after the accident, and resided in the three heavily contaminated areas in Ukraine. This analysis is based on the 23 cases diagnosed in 12,504 subjects for whom personal history of thyroid diseases was known. The dose-response relation was linear with an excess relative risk of 2.07 per gray (95% confidence interval: 0.28, 10.31). The risk was significantly higher in women compared with men, with no clear modifying effects of age at exposure. In conclusion, persons exposed to radioactive iodines as children and adolescents have an increased risk of follicular adenoma, though it is smaller than the risk of thyroid cancer in the same cohort. Compared with results from other studies, this estimate is somewhat smaller, but confidence intervals overlap, suggesting compatibility.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Adenoma / epidemiology
  • Adenoma / etiology*
  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Age Factors
  • Age of Onset
  • Chernobyl Nuclear Accident
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Cohort Studies
  • Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation
  • Environmental Exposure / adverse effects
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Iodine / deficiency
  • Logistic Models
  • Male
  • Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced / epidemiology*
  • Radiometry
  • Risk Factors
  • Sex Factors
  • Thyroid Neoplasms / epidemiology
  • Thyroid Neoplasms / etiology*
  • Ukraine / epidemiology

Substances

  • Iodine