Solid cancer incidence risk in offspring of parents exposed in the South Urals

To date, studies of the effects of parental pre-conceptional radiation exposure on the health of offspring have not provided sufficient evidence to confirm the detected harm. This underscores the importance of ongoing research in this area.

The objective of the study is to analyze the risk of solid cancer incidence in the Urals Cohort of Exposed Population Offspring for the period from 1956 to 2020.

Materials and methods: the number of the analyzed cohort amounted to 24952 people, the average age by the end of the follow-up period was 40 years. During the 65-year period, 569 solid cancers were registered. The dose to the parents' gonads was calculated based on the TRDS2016 dosimetry system developed by the staff of the Southern Urals Federal Research and Clinical Center for Medical Biophysics. The median dose to the ovaries of mothers of the cohort members was 6.1 mGy, to the testes of fathers 4.5 mGy, total parental gonadal dose 31.2 mGy. Regression analysis with Poisson distribution using EPICURE statistical package programs was applied for risk assessment.

Results: risk analysis of all solid cancer incidence among the offspring of exposed parents did not reveal a significant dependence on parental gonadal dose. At the same time, a significant dependence of the lung cancer risk on maternal and total parental gonadal doses was found among cohort members. The results are in good agreement with similar mortality data in the same cohort. The point values of lung cancer risk have a wide confidence interval, indicating that uncertainty exists and requires further investigation.

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