Contamination of Individuals by Radon Daughters: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

Body radon daughter contamination reflects relative individual respiratory exposures to radon daughters; counts can be related both to household radon levels and to lung cancer risk factors such as sex and tobacco smoking. Radon daughters were counted by gamma spectroscopy from 180 adult residents of eastern Pennsylvania. A seven-position, 35-min scan was conducted in a mobile body counter, generally during afternoon or evening hours. Track-etch detectors for household radon were distributed, and were recovered from 80% of the subjects. Over 75% of the population had environmentally enhanced radon daughter contamination. House radon levels were strongly related, as anticipated, to radon daughter contamination in the 112 subjects for whom both sets of measurements were available (p < .001); basement measurements were as strongly related to personal contamination as were living area measurements; bedroom measurements were slightly more strongly correlated. Both sex (p < .02) and cigarette smoking (p < .01) significantly modified the relationships, after nonlinear adjustment for travel times. Using a logarithmic model, a given house living-area radon level was associated in females with body contamination by radon daughters 2–3 times that in males. Nonsmokers had 2–4 times higher levels of contamination than smokers. Results are for the total of internal and external contamination, these being highly correlated in preliminary experiments. Time usage and activity patterns of the subjects are believed to be important in explaining these findings, and may become important variables in radon risk assessment.