Ongoing results from Atomic Experiment

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Last Updated: Wednesday, 1 March 2006, 00:23 GMT

 

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Ill health legacy of atomic bomb

 

The mushroom cloud seen over Nagasaki on 9 August 1945

People who survived the atomic bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and

Nagasaki in 1945 are still suffering health problems, a study

reports.

The younger they were at the time, and the more radiation they were

exposed to, the higher their risk of illness.

 

The Radiation Effects Research Foundation looked at thyroid

conditions, known to be linked to radiation exposure.

 

The study is published in the Journal of the American Medical

Association.

 

THE BOMBINGS OF HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI

6 August 1945 - US drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima

9 August - Nagasaki is bombed

Around 214,000 people were killed in the bombings

Japan surrendered to the Allies on 14 August 1945

 

 

Survivors remember

 

People who have been exposed to radiation are known to be at an

increased risk of malignant and benign thyroid nodules, but few

studies have followed them for long periods.

 

Studies of children, including those exposed to radiation after the

Chernobyl disaster, have shown the younger a person is the higher the

risk of thyroid conditions.

 

Between 2000 and 2003, the Japanese researchers looked at the

incidence of thyroid diseases among 3,185 people, with an average age

of 70, who had been in the cities when the bombs hit.

 

The team also looked at people's level of exposure to radiation -

which was possible because all those studied had been followed

throughout their lives.

 

Young 'at greater risk'

 

Just under 45% - 1,833 - of those studied had malignant tumours,

nodules [lumps on the thyroid] and cysts.

 

This is a unique survey that provides an important insight

 

Professor Sarah Darby, Cancer Research UK

 

Those who were aged under 20 when the atomic bombs dropped had a

higher risk of disease than those who had been older.

 

The researchers, led by Dr Misa Imaizumi, wrote in JAMA: " The present

study revealed that, 55 to 58 years after radiation exposure, a

significant relationship existed in the prevalence of not only

malignant thyroid tumours but also benign thyroid nodules and that

the relationship was significantly higher in those exposed at younger

ages.

 

" Thus, the effect of radiation on the thyroid nodules may exist long

after radiation exposure in atomic bomb survivors. "

 

Sarah Darby, professor of medical statistics at Cancer Research UK,

said: " This is a unique survey that provides an important insight

into the relationship between ionizing radiation and the risk of

thyroid cysts and nodules, including cancer.

 

" These conditions are rarely fatal, and some people with a thyroid

cyst or nodule do not experience any symptoms.

 

" Therefore, it is difficult to collect information on the

relationship between radiation exposure and the subsequent risk of

thyroid disease that is free from any bias. "