Uranium and Other Natural Radionuclides in Drinking Water and Risk of Leukemia: A Case-Cohort Study in Finland

• Published in: Cancer causes & control Vol. 13; no. 9; pp. 825 - 829
• Main Authors: Auvinen, Anssi, Kurttio, Päivi, Pekkanen, Juha, Pukkala, Eero, Ilus, Taina, Salonen, Laina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Kluwer Academic Publishers 01.11.2002; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Cancer; Cohort analysis; Cohort Studies; Confidence Intervals; Drinking water; Environmental Exposure - analysis; Female; Finland - epidemiology; Groundwater; Health hazards; Humans; Isotopes; Leukemia; Leukemia - epidemiology; Male; Potable water; Proportional Hazards Models; Radiation; Radiation dosage; Radionuclides; Radiotherapy; Radium; Radium - analysis; Radon; Radon - analysis; Reference Values; Risk Factors; Uranium; Uranium - analysis; Water Pollutants, Radioactive - analysis; Water Supply - analysis; Water wells; Finland
• ISSN: 0957-5243; 1573-7225
• DOI: 10.1023/A:1020647704999

Objective: We assessed the effect of natural uranium and other radionuclides in drinking water on risk of leukemia. Methods: The subjects (n = 144,627) in the base cohort had lived outside the municipal tapwater system during 1967-1980. A subcohort was formed as a stratified random sample of the base cohort and subjects using drinking water from drilled wells prior to 1981 were identified. A case-cohort design was used comparing exposure among cases with leukemia (n = 35) with a stratified random sample (n = 274) from the subcohort. Activity concentrations of uranium, radium-226, and radon in the drinking water were analyzed using radiochemical and alpha-spectrometric methods. Results: The median activity concentration of uranium in well water was 0.08 Bq/L for the leukemia cases and 0.06 Bq/L for the reference group, radon concentrations 80 and 130 Bq/L, respectively, and radium-226 concentrations 0.01 Bq/L for both groups. The hazard ratio of leukemia for uranium was 0.91 (95% confidence interval 0.73-1.13) per Bq/L, for radon 0.79 per Bq/L (95% CI 0.27-2.29), and for radium-226 0.80 (95% CI 0.46-1.39) per Bq/L. Conclusions: Our results do not indicate an increased risk of leukemia from ingestion of natural uranium or other radionuclides through drinking water at these exposure levels.