Low radon exposure and mortality among Jouac uranium miners: an update of the French cohort (1946 –2007)

After the extension of the French cohort of uranium miners with the inclusion of workers employed in
the Jouac mines, this article seeks to describe the new Jouac cohort and to estimate mortality
risks, as well as to quantify their relation to radon exposure in this extended cohort. The Jouac
cohort includes 458 miners hired by the Soci été des Mines de Jouac between 1957 and 2001. There is
no measurement of radon exposure before 1978 and so no data were available. Consequently, only the
post-1977 Jouac cohort (n  = 314) has been included in the French cohort, creating an extended cohort
of 5400 French uranium miners followed up from 1946 to 2007. Mortality analyses computed the
standardised mortality ratios (SMRs). Excess relative risks (ERRs) were assessed using Poisson
regression models. No evidence of a significant excess risk of overall mortality (n  = 66,
SMR  = 0.93; 95% CI = 0.72–1.19) or any specific mortality was observed in the Jouac cohort. In the
extended cohort, overal...

Source: Journal of Radiological Protection - December 6, 2017 Category: Physics Authors: Estelle Rage, Sylvaine Ca ër-Lorho and Dominique Laurier Source Type: research