Effect of Radon on oncological morbidity of the population: comparative analysis of some regions of Ukraine and France

Abstract

<p><span lang="EN-US">Radon contributes about 50% to the total annual effective dose of human radioactive irradiation. This gas is the main radiological pollutant of ecosystems. The question of studying the effect of radon on increasing the risk of the incidence of lung cancer is relevant in the context of European sanitary and hygienic research. We give in this article a comparative description of the results of experimental studies of volumetric activity of radon inside the air of the first floors of residential premises in Corsica island (France) and town of Rivne (Ukraine). «Kodak-alpha» integrated solid-state track detectors were used in France for three measurement campaigns between 1990 and 1999 (152 measurements in residential buildings and 638 in the schools of the island). In Ukraine, we did research using the “Alfarad Plus” Express Radon meter from 2013 to 2017 (200 measurements in the apartments of the first floors of buildings). The regions studied are similar in several parameters, which affect the increase in the percentage of cancer diseases: geology of underlying soils, the structure of housing and building material, the number of people and incidence of lung cancer, smoking factor, etc. We found that the volume activity (VA) of radon in indoor air in-house compared regions have close in value. The main reason is the similarity of the underlying granites in terms of radon emanation power. The average geometric value of radon VA in living quarters for various measurement campaigns in Corsica is in the range from 81 to 152 Bq/m³ (the average of them is 134 Bq/m³). This value for Rivne is 127 Bq/m³. VA of radon in residential areas of Rivne have a lognormal distribution. Building norms for equivalent equilibrium volumetric activity (EEVA) of radon in the premises of Rivne are exceeded in 6.6% of buildings, Corsica - from 6 to 10% (this depends on the measurement campaign). Here, the average concentration of radon in housing is over 400 Bq/m³. We calculated the relative risk of lung cancer incidence due to radon for the population of the studied regions. The Jacobi and BEIR-VI models were used for Rivne for 70 years of exposure, and the BEIR-VI model was taken for Corsica for 110 years of exposure. The proportion of deaths from lung cancer is in Corsica from 30 to 48%, while for Rivne - about 50%. Consequently, the percentages of deaths from lung cancer caused by radon with an average value of VA in housing 134 Bq/m³, for men and women Corsica are 21.3% and 22.6% respectively (21.5% for the entire population) of the total number of deaths from this disease. In the quantitative form it is 33 people (men - 28, women - 5) out of 155 people died for a year from lung cancer. For residents of Rivne, the percentage of deaths from lung cancer is 25.1%, average value of VA in housing is 127 Bq/m³. 53 people die on average for a year from lung cancer caused by radon (men - 47, women - 6) of 214 deaths per year lung cancer lot. A preliminary assessment of the synergistic interaction between smoking and radon showed that there could be a 50% increase in morbidity due to radon for smokers, compared to non-smokers. However, these data are not sufficiently representative and therefore further research is needed.</span><span lang="EN-US">Rivne; Corsica; living rooms; volumetric activity of radon; lung cancer</span></p>