Adult Height and Weight of Female Radium Dial Painters with Analysis of Radiation Effect on Growth

Document Type

Article

Authors

Anthony P. Polednak, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois

Abstract

The relationship between exposure to internal radiation and adult height and weight was considered in a group of 556 females who worked as radium dial painters. These persons were first exposed at age 14-29 years, and height and weight were measured at age 46-80. Univariate and multivariate (multiple regression) analysis disclosed no significant overall effect of age at first exposure, or average skeletal dose, on height and weight. Possible effects of radiation on growth were assessed. For persons in the earliest birth cohort (1900-09) who were 14-17 and 18-21 years old at first exposure, skeletal dose in rads received from first exposure to age 21 was estimated and height and weight compared by dose group (0-9, 10-99 and 100+ rads). There was no evidence for an effect of dose, or age-at-first-exposure, on adult height, in agreement with findings on Japanese atomic bomb survivors exposed to external radiation at age 12-17 years.

Recommended Citation

Polednak, Anthony P. (1977) "Adult Height and Weight of Female Radium Dial Painters with Analysis of Radiation Effect on Growth," Human Biology: Vol. 49: Iss. 1, Article 3.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/vol49/iss1/3