Thyroid carcinoma after exposure to atomic radiation. A continuing survey of a fixed population, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 1958--1971

A survey of histologically verified thyroid carcinoma in the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission—Japanese National Institute of Health (ABCC-JNIH) Adult Health Study, from July 1958 through October 1971 was made, using as sources of tumor information results of periodic clinical examinations, autopsy diagnoses, surgical pathology reports, tumor registry listings, and death certificate diagnoses. Thyroid carcinoma was commoner in women and significantly more prevalent in persons exposed to 50 or more rads of atomic radiation 13 to 26 years previously. Carcinoma of the thyroid diagnosed during life was commoner in persons who were less than 20 years old when exposed in 1945; however, a radiosensitive period only in childhood, found in previous studies, was not shown in this study, since an increased risk was found even among persons who were 50 years old at the time of radiation exposure.