Residential Radon in U.S. Counties V Lung Cancer in Women Who Predominantly Never Smoked

摘要: Previous studies have found that mean-residential-radon (Rn) levels for U.S. counties are negatively associated with age-adjusted county rates of lung-cancer mortality (LCM), after adjustments potentially confounding factors. Those results may be due to (a) unaddressable by any county-level (‘ecological’) study design, or (b) factors such as Rn/smoking age/radon correlations exposure misclassifications from the use disparate data sources. Possibilities were addressed comparing age-specific LCM white women in 2821 who died 1950–54 at age 40+ (∼11% whom ever smoked), 60+ (∼% Rn newly estimated Rn, climatic and geological-survey data. Significant negative v trends both groups, adjusting subsets 21 socioeconomic, other Negative largest ≤ 100 Bq m−3 (p 0.00087; 420 analyses). Adjusted relative risk (RRadj) was significantly elevated (1 150 m−3v 65–100 most involving adjustment climate- education-related likely influenced indoor air contaminants cigarette smoke. Though inconclusive potential ecological-fallacy-related could not controlled, this ecological consistent a U-shaped dose-response relationship between residential radon predominantly never smoked.