Radiation exposure from work-related medical X-rays at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
Authors
Daniels-RD; Kubale-TL; Spitz-HB
Source
Am J Ind Med 2005 Mar; 47(3):206-216
Abstract
Background: Previous analyses suggest that worker radiation dose may be significantly increased by routine occupational X-ray examinations. Medical exposures are investigatedfor 570 civilian workers employed at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNS) at Kittery, Maine. The research objective was to determine the radiation exposure contribution of work-related chest X-rays (WRX) relative to conventional workplace radiation sources. Methods: Methods were developed to estimate absorbed doses to the active (hematopoietic) bone marrow from X-ray examinations and workplace exposures using data extracted from worker dosimetry records (8,468) and health records (2,453). Dose distributions were examined for radiation and non-radiation workers. Results: Photofluorographic chest examinations resulted in 82% of the dose from medical sources. Radiation workers received 26% of their collective dose from WRX and received 66% more WRX exposure than non-radiation workers. Conclusions: WRX can result in a significant fraction of the total dose, especially for radiation workers who were more likely to be subjected to routine medical monitoring. Omission of WRX from the total dose is a likely source of bias that can lead to dose category misclassification and may skew the epidemiologic dose-response assessment for cancers induced by the workplace.
Keywords
Radiation-exposure; Radiation-facilities; Epidemiology; Statistical-analysis; Chest-X-rays; X-ray-absorption; Dose-response; Dosimetry
Contact
Robert D. Daniels, Health Physicist, 5555 Ridge Ave., R-44, Cincinnati, OH 45213
Document Type
Journal Article
Email Address
RTD2@CDC.gov
Source Name
American Journal of Industrial Medicine
