| This data file set contains one analytic file used in a cohort mortality study of male workers at the LANL by Laurie Wiggs et al. |
| This file was prepared for a historical cohort analysis of males at LANL in 1993. The analysis sought to determine whether mortality among these workers differed significantly from the general population of males in the United States and whether the subgroup of this cohort exposed to external ionizing radiation or plutonium exhibited an increased cancer death rate when compared with the unexposed group. Analyses focused on 15,727 white (unknown race assumed to be white) males whose birth and hire date were available on their records and who were hired before January 1, 1978. No cause of death was elevated among the plutonium-exposed workers when compared with their unexposed co-workers. Significant dose-response relationships with whole-body dose from external ionizing radiation and tritium were observed for cancers of the brain/central nervous system, the esophagus, and Hodgkin's disease. A suggestive relationship was also observed for cancers of the kidney. An osteosarcoma was observed among the plutonium-monitored workers. |
| This file, LAMENA03_d1, contains demographic and exposure data for 16,438 males of all races employed at LANL from 1943 through December 31, 1977. Of these, 324 are non-white, 14,981 are known to be white, and 1,133 have an unknown designation for race. Demographic information was abstracted from personnel records available for hires through December 31, 1977. These data were supplemented with information from death certificates and some later LANL information. Employment histories have not been updated since December 31, 1977. Demographic variables include date of birth, race, ethnicity, education level, hire and term dates, and an indicator if the time at LANL was a military appointment. |
| Death information was last obtained in 1992 with a submission to NDI. NDI data were available from 1979 through 1990. Pre-1979 death information was obtained through earlier submissions to SSA. An end of study date of December 31, 1990 was assigned based on the death information provided by NDI. Some information on deaths after the study end date are included, but all workers identified as dead after the study end date were treated as alive for purposes of the study. There are a total of 3,319 deaths in the file with 3,239 of them occurring on or before December 31, 1990 (end-of-study). Causes of death were coded to ICDA8. |
| The sources of occupational radiation exposures were external radiation, primarily gamma, and internal deposition of plutonium-238 and plutonium-239. Pocket chambers or film dosimeters were used for personnel monitoring from 1944 through 1980, when they were replaced with thermoluminescent dosimeters. Formal bioassay programs to monitor for internal exposures were begun in 1944. External data consists of dates (given in decimalized notation) at which the worker was first monitored, first received a positive exposure, first received 1 rem whole-body dose, first received 5 rem whole-body dose, and first received 10 rem whole-body dose. Whole-body dose was defined as the sum of all tritium, neutron, and penetrating gamma readings. External readings (centirem) were available through December 31, 1990. Plutonium data includes isotope type, first sample date (in decimalized notation), last sample date (decimalized), and estimated whole-body burdens (both nCi and nCi years) as of December 31, 1984. |
