| Cancer Risks from Exposure to Radon in Homes Olav Axelson Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University Hospital, Linköping, Sweden Abstract
Exposure to radon and its decay products in mines is a well recognised risk of lung cancer in miners. A large number of epidemiologic studies from various countries are quite consistent in this respect even it the magnitude of the risk differs according to exposure levels. Indoor radon became a concern in the 1970s and about a dozen of studies have been conducted since 1979, mainly of the case-control design. From first being of a simple pilot character, the designs have become increasingly sophisticated, especially with regard to exposure assessment. Crude exposure estimates based on type of house, building material and geological features have been supplemented or replaced by quite extensive measurements. Still, exposure assessment remains a difficult and uncertain issue in these studies, most of which indicate a lung cancer risk from indoor radon, usually with an about doubled risk. Also a recent large scale study has confirmed a lung cancer risk from indoor radon. More recently there are also some studies, mainly of the correlation type, suggesting other cancers than lung cancer to be related to indoor radon, especially leukaemia, kidney cancer and malignant melanoma and some other cancer forms as well. The data are less consistent and much more uncertain than for indoor radon and lung cancer, however and there is no clear support from studies of miners in this respect. -- Environ Health Perspect 103(Suppl 2) :37-43 (1995) Key words: building material, kidney cancer, leukaemia, lung cancer, melanoma, radiation, smoking, stomach cancer
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