Science of the Total Environment 762 ( 2021 ) 144150
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Science of the Total Environment
journal homepage : www . elsevier . com / locate / scitotenv
A 10-year follow-up study of yearly indoor radon measurements in homes , review of other studies and implications on lung cancer risk estimates Sara Antignani a , ⁎, Gennaro Venoso a , Marco Ampollini a , Mario Caprio a , Carmela Carpentieri a , Christian Di Carlo a , b , Barbara Caccia a , Nezahat Hunter c , Francesco Bochicchio a
a Istituto Superiore di Sanità ( Italian National Institute of Health ), National Center for Radiation Protection and Computational Physics , v . le Regina Elena , 266 - 00161 Rome , Italy b Sapienza - University of Rome , Department of Basic and Applied Sciences for Engineering , Via Antonio Scarpa , 14 - 00161 Rome , Italy
c Public Health England , Centre for Radiation , Chemical and Environmental Hazards , Chilton , Didcot , Oxon OX11 0RQ , UK
HIGHLIGHTS GRAPHICAL
ABSTRACT
• Indoor radon concentrations show yearto-year variations
• Uncertainty on long-term radon concentration can bias lung cancer risk estimates
• An Italian study estimated a 17 % of yearly variability over a decade
• Studies in other countries estimated radon yearly variability from 15 % to 62 %
• Factors influencing yearly variability estimation were analysed and discussed
article info abstract
Article history : Received 30 September 2020 Received in revised form 20 November 2020 Accepted 23 November 2020 Available online 9 December 2020
Editor : Pavlos Kassomenos
Keywords : Indoor radon Year-to-year variability Lung cancer Risk assessment Epidemiological studies
Uncertainty on long-term average radon concentration has a large impact on lung cancer risk assessment in epidemiological studies . The uncertainty can be estimated by year-to-year radon concentration variability , however few data are available . In Italy a study has been planned and conducted to evaluate year-to-year radon variability over several years in normally inhabited dwellings , mainly located in Rome . This is the longest study of this kind in Europe ; repeat radon measurements are carried out for 10 years using LR-115 radon detectors in the same home in consecutive years . The study includes 84 dwellings with long-term average radon concentration ranging from 28 to 636 Bq / m 3 . The result shows that year-to-year variability of repeated measurements made in the same home in different years is low , with an overall coefficient of variation of 17 %. This is smaller than most of those observed in studies from other European countries and USA , ranging from 15 % to 62 %. Influencing factors that may explain the differences between this study and other studies have been discussed . Due to the low yearly variability estimated in the present 10-year study , a negligible impact on lung cancer risk estimate for the Italian epidemiological study is expected .
© 2020 The Author ( s ). Published by Elsevier B . V . This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http :// creativecommons . org / licenses / by-nc-nd / 4.0 /).
1 . Introduction ⁎ Corresponding author . E-mail address : sara . antignani @ iss . it ( S . Antignani ).
Results of epidemiological studies on lung cancer risk due to radon exposure in dwellings and in mines have prompted the introduction https :// doi . org / 10.1016 / j . scitotenv . 2020.144150 0048-9697 /© 2020 The Author ( s ). Published by Elsevier B . V . This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http :// creativecommons . org / licenses / by-nc-nd / 4.0 /).