First epidemiological evidence of lung cancer risk from exposure to radon was based on studies of uranium miners. The risk in other mines was reported later. The cohort study among 2466 Czech tin miners was conducted in order to estimate the size of the risk and to compare it to that in uranium mines. Based on 205 lung cancers, the estimate of excess relative risk per unit exposure in the simple linear model 0.011 is compatible with findings from two cohort studies of Czech uranium miners. This similarity holds in more complex models that include modifying effects of age and time since exposure. In addition, an alternative description of the risk in terms of lifetime risk was used. This approach provides summarized characteristics, in which modifying effects of time and age are incorporated. The attributive risk derived from the lifetime relative risk is proportional to cumulated exposure observed in both tin and uranium miners. On the other hand, the expected life shortening of 19 years among radiation induced deaths is similar in these studies.

National Radiation Protection Institute 100 00 Prague Czech Republic

Radon and cancer mortality among underground uranium miners in the Příbram region of the Czech Republic