Report on the second international workshop on residential radon: Workshop proceedings

As a follow-on to the first International Workshop on Residential Radon Epidemiology held in Alexandria VA, on July 24-26, 1989, a Second Workshop was convened, in Alexandria, VA, July 22-23 1991, also under the auspices of the US Department of Energy and the Commission of European Communities. The Workshop, co-chaired by Jonathan Samet and Jan Stolwijk, was attended by 20 active participants from seven countries representing epidemiologic studies recently completed, currently in progress, or in the last stages of preparation. The studies reported on are being conducted in the United States, Canada, Sweden, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Germany and the Peoples' Republic of China. The invited presentations that initiated the Workshop focused on a number of methodological problems that have surfaced in the last few years. Among these were: (1) the difficulties in predicting indoor radon concentrations, based on geologic information, (discussed by Alan Tanner, formerly of the US Geologic Survey); (2) the relationships between indoor radon concentrations and building characteristics (discussed by Richard Sextro, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, USA); (3) the approaches to analysis of case-control studies in radon epidemiology (discussed by Sarah Darby, Imperial Cancer Research Fund, UK); (4) statistical approaches to error in measurements and missing data (discussed by Donna Spiegelman, Tufts University, USA); (5) preliminary results of a data pooling effort dealing with several different studies of residential radon epidemiology and the lessons to be drawn from this effort (discussed by Jay Lubin, US National Cancer Institute)