Revision 1
March 19, 1998
by Radiation, Science, and Health, Inc.,
Edited by J. Muckerheide

1.2.1
Japanese Atomic Bomb Survivors

1.2.1.1
Cancer/Leukemia

"The best-known and, perhaps, strongest evidence of a relationship between ionizing radiation and cancer of the human stomach comes from the follow-up of studies of the Japanese atomic-bomb survivors. The most recent such analysis, using the new dosimetry on the combined cohort from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, shows that there is a highly significant radiation-related relative risk of mortality from stomach cancer; e.g., the average excess relative risk at 1 Gy is 0.23 in terms of the kerma at a survivor's location. Females have higher absolute and relative risks than males, although neither difference is statistically significant (Shimizu 1987). Overall. stomach cancer is one of the most common types of cancer seen in this cohort, and its average excess risk of 2.09 deaths/l0⁴ PYGy is, with the single exception of leukemia, the largest excess observed among specific cancer sites. As noted above, however, the relative risk is not large since this is a commonly occurring tumor in the general population."