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This study revised the thyroid doses for 2582 Ukrainian in utero cohort members exposed to Chornobyl fallout (the Ukrainian in utero cohort) based on revision of: (i) 131I thyroid activity measured in the Ukrainian population, (ii) thyroid dosimetry system for entire Ukraine, and (iii) 131I ground deposition densities in Ukraine. Other major improvements included: (i) assessment of uncertainties in the thyroid doses considering shared and unshared error, and (ii) accounting for intake of short-lived radioisotopes of tellurium and iodine (132Te+132I and 133I). Intake of 131I was the major pathway for thyroid exposure, its median contribution to the thyroid dose was 97.4%. The mean prenatal and postnatal thyroid dose from 131I was 87 mGy (median = 17 mGy), higher than previous deterministic dose of 72 mGy (median = 12 mGy). For 39 individuals (1.5%) the dose exceeded 1.0 Gy, while the highest dose among the cohort members was 2.7 Gy. The geometric standard deviation (GSD) of 1000 individual stochastic doses varied from 1.9 to 5.2 with a mean of 3.1 and a median of 3.2. The lowest uncertainty (mean GSD = 2.3, median GSD = 2.2) was found for the subjects whose mothers were measured for 131I thyroid activity, while for individuals, whose mothers were not measured, the mean and median GSDs were 3.4. Uncertainties in thyroid doses were driven by shared errors associated with the parameters of the ecological model.

Background Recent studies have suggested that Kaposi sarcoma (KS) rates might be increasing in some racial/ethnic groups, age groups, and US regions. We estimated recent US trends in KS incidence among people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV; PLWH). Methods Incident KS patients aged 20–59 years were obtained from 36 cancer registries and assumed to be living with HIV. The number of PLWH was obtained from national HIV surveillance data from 2008 to 2016. Age-standardized KS rates and annual percent changes (APCs) in rates were estimated by age, sex, race/ethnicity, state, and region. Results Between 2008 and 2016, the age-adjusted KS rate among PLWH was 116/100 000. Rates were higher among males, in younger age groups, and among white PLWH. Washington, Maine, and California had the highest KS rates among PLWH. KS rates among PLWH decreased significantly (average APC = −3.2% per year, P Conclusions KS incidence rates among PLWH have decreased nationally between 2008 and 2016. Though there were no statistically significant increases in KS rates in any demographic or geographic group, nondecreasing/stagnant KS trends in some states and among younger and black PLWH highlight the need for early diagnosis and treatment of HIV infection.

BACKGROUND: Ionizing radiation is a known cause of female breast cancer, but there have been few studies of the risk after prolonged radiation exposure at low dose rates. METHODS: This population-based case-control study estimated breast cancer risk after ∼25 years’ exposure to radiation from the Chernobyl accident. Cases (n = 468) were women ≤55 years old when first diagnosed with invasive breast cancer during October 2008 through February 2013, who lived in Bryansk Oblast, Russia at the time of the accident and their diagnoses. Controls, individually matched to cases on birth year, administrative district of residence and urban vs non-urban settlement during the accident, were women without breast cancer who lived in Bryansk Oblast at the time of the accident and on their cases’ diagnosis dates (n = 468). Subjects were interviewed regarding residence, dietary and food source histories to support individualized estimation of their radiation doses to the breast, which ranged from 0.04 − 41 centigray (cGy) (mean 1.3 cGy). RESULTS: In multivariable analyses, the odds ratio for breast cancer risk was 3.0 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.3, 7.0] and 2.7 (95% CI: 1.0, 7.3) in the seventh and eighth dose octiles, respectively, relative to the lowest octile. Analyses of dose effect modification suggested that radiation-related risk may have been higher in women who were younger at the time of the accident and/or at the time of diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that prolonged exposure to ionizing radiation at low dose rates can increase risk of breast cancer.

Background Ionizing radiation is known to be capable of causing cancer of many organs, but its relationship with uterine cancer has not been well characterized. Methods We studied incidence of uterine cancer during 1958–2009 among 62 534 female atomic bomb survivors. Using Poisson regression analysis, we fitted excess relative risk (ERR) models to uterine cancer rates adjusted for several lifestyle and reproductive factors. Person-years at risk were also adjusted for the probability of prior hysterectomy, because it could affect the subsequent risk of uterine cancer. We assessed the modifying effect of age and other factors on the radiation risk. For analysis of the modifying effect of age at radiation exposure around menarche, we compared the radiation risk for several exposure-age categories as well as using parametric models. Results There were 224 uterine corpus cancers and 982 cervical cancers. We found a significant association between radiation dose and risk of corpus cancer (ERR per Gray [ERR/Gy] = 0.73, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.03 to 1.87) but not for cervical cancer (ERR/Gy = 0.00, 95% CI = −0.22 to 0.31). For corpus cancer, we found statistically significant heterogeneity in ERR/Gy by age (Pheterogeneity = .001) with elevated risk for women exposed to radiation between ages 11 and 15 years (ERR/Gy = 4.10, 95% CI = 1.47 to 8.42) and no indication of a radiation effect for exposures before or after this exposure-age range. Conclusions The current data suggest that uterine corpus is especially sensitive to the carcinogenic effect of radiation exposure occurring during the mid-pubertal period preceding menarche. There is little evidence for a radiation effect on cervical cancer risk.

Circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), a marker for vitamin D status, is associated with bone health and possibly cancers and other diseases; yet, the determinants of 25(OH)D status, particularly ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure, are poorly understood. Determinants of 25(OH)D were analyzed in a subcohort of 1,500 participants of the US Radiologic Technologists (USRT) Study that included whites (n = 842), blacks (n = 646), and people of other races/ethnicities (n = 12). Participants were recruited monthly (2008–2009) across age, sex, race, and ambient UVR level groups. Questionnaires addressing UVR and other exposures were generally completed within 9 days of blood collection. The relation between potential determinants and 25(OH)D levels was examined through regression analysis in a random two-thirds sample and validated in the remaining one third. In the regression model for the full study population, age, race, body mass index, some seasons, hours outdoors being physically active, and vitamin D supplement use were associated with 25(OH)D levels. In whites, generally, the same factors were explanatory. In blacks, only age and vitamin D supplement use predicted 25(OH)D concentrations. In the full population, determinants accounted for 25% of circulating 25(OH)D variability, with similar correlations for subgroups. Despite detailed data on UVR and other factors near the time of blood collection, the ability to explain 25(OH)D was modest.