Radon and COPD mortality in the American Cancer Society Cohort
Authored by: Michelle C. Turner, Daniel Krewski, Yue Chen, C. Arden Pope III,
Susan M. Gapsture and Michael J. Thune
Abstract: Although radon gas is a known cause of lung cancer, the association between residential radon and mortality from non-malignant respiratory disease has not been well characterised.
The Cancer Prevention Study-II is a large prospective cohort study of nearly 1.2 million Americans recruited in 1982. Mean county-level residential radon concentrations were linked to study participants’ residential address based on their ZIP code at enrolment (mean¡SD
53.5¡38.0 Bq?m-3). Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate adjusted
hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for non-malignant respiratory disease
mortality associated with radon concentrations. After necessary exclusions, a total of 811,961
participants in 2,754 counties were included in the analysis.
Throughout 2006, there were a total of 28,300 non-malignant respiratory disease deaths. Radon
was significantly associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) mortality (HR
per 100 Bq?m-3 1.13, 95% CI 1.05–1.21). There was a significant positive linear trend in COPD
mortality with increasing categories of radon concentrations (p,0.05).
Findings suggest residential radon may increase COPD mortality. Further research is needed to
confirm this finding and to better understand possible complex inter-relationships between radon,
COPD and lung cancer.
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