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Commentary
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| The Role of Epidemiology in the Detection of Harmful Effects of Radiation Alice Stewart Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom Abstract
Data relating to acute injuries of atomic bomb survivors show that the life span study cohort is biased in favor of exceptionally low levels of radiosensitivity. These data also show that factors influencing the death rates of this cohort include irreversible damage to the immune system. These impressions are still awaiting confirmation. Meanwhile, the Oxford Survey of Childhood Cancers and surveys of nuclear workers show that at low dose levels the cancer risk is much greater than estimates based on atomic bomb survivors ; the special association between leukemia and radiation is an exclusively high dose effect, and levels of radiosensitivity are much lower in the middle of the life span than at either extreme. Key words: competing causes of death, immune system dysfunction, late effects of radiation. Environ Health Perspect 108:93-96 (2000) . [Online 21 December 1999] http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2000/108p93-96stewart/ abstract.html Address correspondence to A. Stewart, Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK. Telephone: 44 121 414 7497. Fax: 44 121 414 7878. E-mail: a.walker@bham.ac.uk Received 2 June 1999 ; accepted 1 September 1999.
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