TY - JOUR TI - Childhood leukemia incidence and exposure to indoor radon, terrestrial and cosmic gamma radiation AU - Evrard, Anne-Sophie AU - Hémon, Denis AU - Billon, Solenne AU - Laurier, Dominique AU - Jougla, Eric AU - Tirmarche, Margot AU - Clavel, Jacqueline T2 - Health physics AB - This study was undertaken to evaluate the ecological association between terrestrial and cosmic gamma radiation, indoor radon, and acute leukemia incidence among children under 15 y of age. From 1990 to 2001, 5,330 cases of acute leukemia were registered by the French National Registry of Childhood Leukemia and Lymphoma. Exposure to terrestrial gamma radiation was based on measurements, using thermoluminescent dosimeters, at about 1,000 sites covering all the "Départements." In addition, 8,737 indoor terrestrial gamma dose rate measurements covering 62% of the "Départements" and 13,240 indoor radon concentration measurements covering all the "Départements" were made during a national campaign. Cosmic ray doses were estimated in each of the 36,363 "Communes" of France. There was no evidence of an ecological association between terrestrial gamma dose (range: 0.22-0.90 mSv y) or total gamma dose (range: 0.49-1.28 mSv y) and childhood acute leukemia incidence, for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), in univariate or multivariate regression analyses including indoor radon. A significant positive association between indoor radon (range: 22-262 Bq m) and AML incidence among children was observed and remained significant in multivariate regression analyses including either terrestrial gamma dose [SIR per 100 Bq m = 1.29 (1.09-1.53)] or total gamma dose [SIR per 100 Bq m = 1.29 (1.09-1.53)]. The study showed no ecological association between terrestrial gamma radiation and childhood leukemia for the range of variation in gamma dose rates observed in France. The moderate ecological association between childhood AML incidence and indoor radon does not appear to be confounded by terrestrial gamma dose. DA - 2006/06// PY - 2006 DO - 10.1097/01.HP.0000198787.93305.35 DP - NCBI PubMed VL - 90 IS - 6 SP - 569 EP - 579 J2 - Health Phys LA - eng SN - 0017-9078 KW - Air Pollution, Indoor KW - Body Burden KW - Child KW - Child, Preschool KW - Confounding Factors (Epidemiology) KW - Cosmic Radiation KW - Environmental Exposure KW - Female KW - France KW - Gamma Rays KW - Humans KW - Incidence KW - Leukemia, Radiation-Induced KW - Male KW - Radiation Dosage KW - Radon KW - Registries KW - Relative Biological Effectiveness KW - Risk Assessment KW - Risk Factors ER -