Lung cancer risk among Czech miners exposed to radon related to histological types

Long term exposure to radon and its progeny is one of the most important health problems. Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that exposure of miners to radon in a mine atmosphere can cause lung cancer. It has been recognized that lung cancer risk in uranium miners is associated with increased incidence of certain histological types, especially epidermoid and small cell. Recent results showed that the basic dependence of the relative risk for the two main histological types is linear with cumulative exposure. However, there is a suggestion that time and age modifiers of the dependence may be different for the two types. The aim of the study was firstly to verify the assumed differences in incidence of histological types of lung cancer for the studied cohort and general population and secondly to characterize the relation of histological types specific incidence to different exposure patterns. The study is based on data of the oldest Czechoslovak cohort, which belongs among the largest ones with the longest follow-up. The cohort includes 4320 former uranium miners who started their work in uranium mines in West Bohemia in the period 1948-59, and were working at least for 4 years and their complete personal and anamnestic data were available