Table 1

A selection of epidemiological studies on populations of women exposed to radiation from the atomic bombings or for medical purposes

No. of women
 No. of breast cancers






Cohort
 Exposed
 Non-exposed
 Exposed
 Non- exposed
 Breast dose (Sv)b
 Exposure age (years)b
 ERR at 1 Svg
Atomic bombings






     Life Span Study, Japan [43]
 70,165
 c
 1059
 -
 0.28
 27
 1.74
Diagnostic radiation






     Tuberculosis fluoroscopy, Canada [27]a
 31,917
 c
 319
 332
 0.89
 26
 0.90
     Tuberculosis fluoroscopy, USA [28]
 2573
 2367
 147
 87
 0.79
 26
 0.40
     Scoliosis, USA [29]a
 4929
 644
 70
 7
 0.11
 10
 5.4
Radiotherapy for benign disorders






     Enlarged thymus, USA [30]
 1201
 2469
 22
 12
 0.69
 <1
 2.39
     Skin hemangioma, Sweden [31]
 17,202
 c
 245
 -
 0.29
 0.5
 0.35
     Tinea Capitis, Israel [32]
 5400
 8100
 25
 27
 0.02
 7
 -
     Benign breast disease, Sweden [33]
 1216
 1874
 198
 101
 5.8
 40
 0.35
     Post-partum mastitis, USA [34]
 601
 1239
 56
 59
 3.8
 28
 0.43

No. of cancer survivors
 Observed
 Expected

RR/OE
Cancer survivors






     Pediatric HL (age < 16) LESG, USA [35]d
 480
29
 0.7
 f
 11.7
 55.5
     Childhood cancer, CCSS, USA [36]d
 6304
60
 3.7
 f
 7.8
 24.7h
     Pediatric HL international [37]
 2737
52
 3.7
 f
 16
 14.1
     HL, UK [38]d
 2085
19
 13.5
 f
 -
 2.5h
     Breast cancer, Denmark [39]e
 56,540
529e
 -
 2.5
 51
 1.04
     Breast cancer, USA [40]e
 41,109
655e
 -
 2.8
 52
 1.33

CCSS, Childhood Cancer Survivor Study; ERR, excess relative risk; expected, expected number of cases; HL, Hodgkin lymphoma; LESG, Late Effects Study Group; observed, observed number of cases; OE, observed/expected ratio; RR, relative risk. aOutcome breast cancer mortality. bAverage. cIncluded in the exposed group. dIn the total cohorts 70–90% of patients were treated with radiotherapy. eNested case-control studies among patients with a first breast cancer and matched controls. fSpecific dose estimates were not reported in these studies, but HL patients can be exposed to doses of 40 Gy or more [41]. gSource: UNSCEAR 2000 report [26], which also has more detailed descriptions of the individual studies. hFor the subgroup of patients treated with chest radiotherapy.

Ronckers et al. Breast Cancer Res 2005 7:21   doi:10.1186/bcr970