2011/01/12 by David Méndez, Omar Alshanqeety, Kenneth E. Warner +2 · 1 citation
Health Professions · Environmental Science · Medicine · #Radioactivity and Radon Measurements #Radioactive contamination and transfer #Effects of Radiation Exposure #Radon #Radon exposure #Environmental health #Lung cancer #Medicine #Public health #Cigarette smoking #Demography #Oncology #Pathology
paper · doi:10.2105/ajph.2009.189225
openalex publication_date 2011/01/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/07
OBJECTIVES: We examined the effect of current patterns of smoking rates on future radon-related lung cancer. METHODS: We combined the model developed by the National Academy of Science's Committee on Health Risks of Exposure to Radon (the BEIR VI committee) for radon risk assessment with a forecasting model of US adult smoking prevalence to estimate proportional decline in radon-related deaths during the present century with and without mitigation of high-radon houses. RESULTS: By 2025, the reduction in radon mortality from smoking reduction (15 percentage points) will surpass the maximum expected reduction from remediation (12 percentage points). CONCLUSIONS: Although still a genuine source of public health concern, radon-induced lung cancer is likely to decline substantially, driven by reductions in smoking rates. Smoking decline will reduce radon deaths more that remediation of high-radon houses, a fact that policymakers should consider as they contemplate the future of cancer control.