Reliability of thyroid doses due to 131I intake exceeding 5 Gy in a cohort of Belarusian children exposed to Chernobyl fallout

• Published in: Radiation and environmental biophysics Vol. 60; no. 1; pp. 179 - 191
• Main Authors: Kukhta, Tatiana, Minenko, Victor, Trofimik, Sergey, Drozdovitch, Vladimir
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.03.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Biological and Medical Physics; Biophysics; Children; Ecosystems; Effects of Radiation/Radiation Protection; Environmental Physics; Exposure; Fallout; Impact analysis; Iodine; Iodine 131; Iodine isotopes; Iodine radioisotopes; Mathematical analysis; Monitoring/Environmental Analysis; Nuclear accidents; Nuclear power plants; Original Article; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Population studies; Radiation measurement; Radioactive fallout; Reliability analysis; Thyroid; Thyroid cancer; Thyroid diseases; Thyroid gland; Chernobyl; I; Radiation dose; Reliability; 5 gy; Thyroid
• ISSN: 0301-634X; 1432-2099; 1432-2099
• DOI: 10.1007/s00411-020-00882-7

High thyroid doses due to Iodine-131 ( 131 I) intake among individuals exposed in childhood and adolescence to Chernobyl fallout raise questions about their reliability and their impact on the analysis of the radiation-related risk of thyroid cancer and other thyroid diseases in the exposed population. In the present study, an in-depth examination was conducted of thyroid doses from 131 I intake over 5 Gy calculated for 131 subjects of the Belarusian-American cohort of individuals exposed after the Chernobyl accident. Thyroid doses in this cohort study were estimated based on individual radiation measurements of 131 I thyroidal activity and detailed questionnaire data on individual behavior and consumptions of locally produced foodstuffs. Therefore, these doses provide the best basis for assessing reliability. The analysis showed that the result of direct thyroid measurement was mistakenly assigned to three out of 131 study subjects (2.3% of the total), and, therefore, the instrumental thyroid dose for these individuals cannot be correctly estimated. This study confirmed with a high degree of confidence the reliability of thyroid doses due to 131 I intake exceeding 5 Gy that were calculated for the Belarusian-American cohort members.