Biomedical subjects

N V Startsev

Publications and source records attributed to N V Startsev.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

The Techa River Cohort: study design and follow-up methods.

Residents living on the banks of the Techa River in the Southern Urals region of Russia were exposed to radioactive contamination from the Mayak plutonium production and separation facility that discharged liquid radioactive waste into this river. This paper describes the methods used to establish and follow the Extended Techa River Cohort (ETRC), which includes almost 30,000 people living along the Techa River who were exposed to a complex mixture of radionuclides, largely 90Sr and 137Cs. The system of regular follow-up allows ascertainment of vital status, cause of death and cancer incidence. With over 50 years of follow-up and over 50% deceased, the ETRC now provides a valuable opportunity to study a wide range of health effects, both early and late, associated with protracted internal and external radiation exposures. The wide range of doses allows analysis of the nature of the dose-response relationship based on internal comparisons. Other features of the cohort are the high proportion (40%) exposed under age 20, and the inclusion of both sexes. The limitations of the study include loss to follow-up due to difficulties in tracing some cohort members and migration and incomplete ascertainment of cause of death.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Protracted radiation exposure and cancer mortality in the Techa River Cohort.

In the 1950s many thousands of people living in rural villages on the Techa River received protracted internal and external exposures to ionizing radiation from the release of radioactive material from the Mayak plutonium production complex. The Extended Techa River Cohort includes 29,873 people born before 1950 who lived near the river sometime between 1950 and 1960. Vital status and cause of death are known for most cohort members. Individualized dose estimates have been computed using the Techa River Dosimetry System 2000. The analyses provide strong evidence of long-term carcinogenic effects of protracted low-dose-rate exposures; however, the risk estimates must be interpreted with caution because of uncertainties in the dose estimates. We provide preliminary radiation risk estimates for cancer mortality based on 1,842 solid cancer deaths (excluding bone cancer) and 61 deaths from leukemia. The excess relative risk per gray for solid cancer is 0.92 (95% CI 0.2; 1.7), while those for leukemia, including and excluding chronic lymphocytic leukemia, are 4.2 (CI 95% 1.2; 13) and 6.5 (CI 95% 1.8; 24), respectively. It is estimated that about 2.5% of the solid cancer deaths and 63% of the leukemia deaths are associated with the radiation exposure.

Cohort Studies↗

PubMed2002

Cause-of-death registers in radiation-contaminated areas of the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan.

Since the early 1990s, information on radiation-exposed populations other than those exposed from the Chernobyl accident in 1986 has become increasingly available for international scientific research. It is essential to understand how the cohorts of exposed populations have been defined and what mechanisms can be used to study their health outcomes. Different international scientific research collaborations currently investigate four population groups chronically exposed to ionizing radiation during the late 1940s and early 1950s in the Russian Federation and in Kazakhstan. In this framework, collaborations have been established to develop cause-of-death registers in each of these four areas for future mortality follow-up purposes with the aim of studying the health effects of ionizing radiation. The emphasis of this effort is on assessing the information sources available, the mechanisms of data collection and coding, and the data quality and completeness of the information collected. One of the major challenges is the harmonization of all these aspects between the four different centers to the extent possible, taking into account that much of the actual data has been collected over many decades.

Cause of Death↗

PubMed2002