Objective
The role of radon and its decay products as a cause of lung cancer in miners is well established.
High levels of radon also occur in dwellings as emanating from the ground and/or from the building material into the house. Several epidemiologic studies have suggested a lung cancer risk also from indoor radon. However, three recent case-control studies conducted in Sweden, in Canada, and in the U.S.A have yielded conflicting results.
For epidemiologic purposes there are several difficulties in exposure assessment. Many sources of error exist to estimate cumulative radon exposure since pcople tend to move houses many times during lifetime, and time spent inside houses may differ from people living in urban areas and from people living in rural areas. Thus, the conflicting results seen in epidemiological studies may be explained by the sources of errors introduced in the estimation of radon exposure. Single studies are not sufficiently large to counteract with the uncertainty in the estimation of the cumulative residential exposure to radon.
In order to narrow the uncertainty in the estimation of the risk of residential exposure to radon, a pooling exercise of data of European studies of indoor radon and lung cancer has been proposed.
The European Commission is supporting a collaborative analysis of European studies of indoor radon and lung cancer. No study conducted in the Mediterranean area has yet been included in the collaborative analysis. The present project aims at contributing to the pooled European analysis with an additional study from the Lazio region of Italy, an area which includes Rome and has relatively high indoor radon concentration.
Specific objectives are:
1. To develop an appropriate methodology to retrospectively estimate individual cumulative exposure to indoor radon, by measuring the radon concentration over a one year period in the dwellings and by taking into account potential sources of error.
2. To evaluate the degree of association between cumulative exposure to radon and lung cancer in Lazio, while considering the potential confounding role o several determinants of lung cancer.
3. To provide an additional data set regarding a Mediterranean area for the European pooling exercise on residential radon and lung cancer. The study will be based on 400 cases and 400 controls living in the Lazio region whose information on several determinants of lung cancer, including active/passive smoking, occupation, and dietary habits, are collected. Complete residential histories will be obtained from varies sources. Radon measurements will be done in all dwellings in which subjects have lived in the 35 years before enrolment. Questionnaire information will be also collected regarding dwelling characteristics and living habits. The study will benefit from the work and the experience of Italian an Swedish research partners. This proposal is relevant to area D.3.2 of the Program, in so far it aims at developing a method for retrospective exposure assessment. It is also relevant to area D. 1.4. since it provides additional data for the overall evaluation of the risk of indoor radon exposure and lung cancer. The European pooling exercise will benefit from the present project with a relevant European added value.
Programme(s)
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
00198 ROMA
Italy