Collection, Validation, and Treatment of Data for a Mortality Study of Nuclear Industry Workers

Abstract To investigate the long-term health effects of protracted occupational exposure to low levels of ionizing radiation, a combined facility mortality study was initiated for 118,588 workers hired between 1942 and 1982 by three Department of Energy facilities in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The primary objectives of the study were: (1) to evaluate and compare the mortality experience of separate subcohorts delineated by facility of employment, and (2) to conduct detailed dose-response analyses of the combined facilities subcohort having potential for external radiation exposure. Presented here are issues involving validation and treatment of data for study members, and characteristics of their radiation exposure. To verify data accuracy a stratified random sample was chosen, and original source documents containing demographic and radiation exposure data were reviewed. Health physicists investigated monitoring policies and practices in place at each facility over the 42 years of follow-up (1943 to 1984) bef...