Radon is an important public health problem. The supposed mean of radon levels in dwellings in Europe is 59 Bq/m3. Epidemiological studies on miners’ cohorts and case-control studies in general population provide strong evidence of lung cancer carcinogenicity of dwelling exposure to radon. Available data on young miners (teenagers) exposed to radon in mines in China doesn’t stress any different relationship of what has been observed during adulthood exposure. Nevertheless there is a lack of available data to assess properly the effect of exposure during childhood to the risk of lung cancer during adulthood.

Some ecological studies suggest a possible relationship between the risk of childhood leukaemia and exposure to radon during childhood. But there is no strong evidence for the causality of such a correlation, and the up to now results of the case-control studies don’t suggest such a relationship.

Even if radon is important in terms of cumulative exposure, it should be studied in conjunction with tobacco smoke.

For all this reasons it does not seem suitable for HIA in children for the time being

Go to indicator Radon levels in dwellings

References

Evrard AS, Hemon D, Billon S, Laurier D, Jougla E, Tirmarche M, Clavel J. Childhood leukemia incidence and exposure to indoor radon, terrestrial and cosmic gamma radiation. Health Phys. 2006 Jun;90(6):569-79.

Evrard AS, Hemon D, Billon S, Laurier D, Jougla E, Tirmarche M, Clavel J. Ecological association between indoor radon concentration and childhood leukaemia incidence in France, 1990-1998. Eur J Cancer Prev. 2005 Apr;14(2):147-57.

Laurier D, Valenty M, Tirmarche M. Radon exposure and the risk of leukemia: a review of epidemiological studies. Health Phys. 2001 Sep;81(3):272-88. Review.

References Radon and lung cancer

National Research Concil. Health Effects of Exposure to Radon: BEIR VI. 1999.

Darby S, Hill D, Deo H et al. Residential radon and lung cancer--detailed results of a collaborative analysis of individual data on 7148 persons with lung cancer and 14,208 persons without lung cancer from 13 epidemiologic studies in Europe. Scand J Work Environ Health. 2006;32 Suppl 1:1-83.

Darby S. Residential radon, smoking and lung cancer. Radiat Res. 2005 Jun;163(6):696.

Darby S, Hill D, Auvinen A et al. Radon in homes and risk of lung cancer: collaborative analysis of individual data from 13 European case-control studies. BMJ. 2005