5. Data Integrity and Quality

This issue is addressed in Chapter 8 on occupational radiation studies. The committee acknowledges that there is imprecision in exposure estimates of all epidemiologic studies, especially in retrospective studies of occupational groups. In general, however, studies of workers exposed to radiation tend to have better exposure data than studies of workers exposed to chemicals because of the concurrent estimation of exposure through the use of radiation badges.

The committee notes that imprecision in the estimation of radiation exposure will tend toward an underestimation of any true association between radiation and health effects. To the extent that models based on these data are utilized to set standards of population exposure, the standards will tend to be lower than those that would be based on completely accurate data.

6. Effects on Various Populations

The atomic bomb data are based on two populations in Japan at one point of time. The relation of radiation exposure to age at exposure and gender has been extensively studied and is summarized in Chapter 6. Data on occupational and medical exposure to radiation are available for a number of populations throughout the world for many decades. However, few details are presented in these studies on age at exposure and sex, except of course for sex-specific studies.

The committee recommends that future studies of populations exposed to ionizing radiation include not only information on factors that may interact with radiation exposure, but also information on possible risks present in persons with varying demographic characteristics.