Change of Age Distribution of Childhood and Adolescent Thyroid Cancer after the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Compared with the Chernobyl Cases

Author Info

Toshiko Kato

Corresponding Author

Toshiko Kato
Independent Researcher, Nara, Japan

A B S T R A C T

Background and Methods: Comparison of age patterns of childhood and adolescent childhood thyroid cancer after the nuclear accidents in Fukushima and Chernobyl is often used as a criterion of radiationinduced thyroid cancer in Fukushima. The Fukushima Health Management Survey reports that thyroid cancers in Fukushima are unlikely to be radiation-induced, and one reason for the conclusion was no case was found in the age of 0-5 years at exposure. Published data on the health effects of the Chernobyl accident were analysed to assess whether there was one age pattern common in Chernobyl to be used as a criterion of radiation-induced thyroid cancer. Various age distributions of thyroid cancer as to the age at exposure and age at diagnosis, which depend on the country and the extent of radiation contamination, were studied as a function of years after exposure. Results and Conclusion: The highest incidence of thyroid cancer for infants aged 0-4 at exposure was observed only in Belarus. The high incidence of age group 0-4 AE became apparent only after 12 years from the accident in Ukraine and Russia. Age distribution of diagnosed or suspected thyroid cancer cases in Fukushima by age at exposure shifts to younger age side, average age from 14.9 to 8.3 years in 9 years after the accident. This trend agrees with the one in Ukraine and Russia. Because there is no common age pattern in Chernobyl, we should better not use age pattern as a simple criterion of radiation-induced thyroid cancer.

Article Info

Article Type

Research Article

Publication history

Received: Thu 23, Jul 2020
Accepted: Wed 05, Aug 2020
Published: Wed 19, Aug 2020

Copyright

© 2023 Toshiko Kato. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Hosting by Science Repository.
DOI: 10.31487/j.COR.2020.08.20