Document text
Machine-read from the scan, so expect some errors. Lines that couldn’t be read are left out.
Page 1
Health Sciences Research a n d A2plications Branch Division of Biomedicai aad Environmental Research Atomic Energy Commission Best regards to you.
Page 2
approximately eisht years and Sas asits objective the determiRation of the effect of occupational exposure t o radiation on the health of employees of the A tonic Energy Commission. t. The study design is that of a coimrt study -,vi*& cd lect ion .or' It Is proposed ultiimniely to include i n follow-up all persons Site visit repori. Atomic Energy Commission Health and Mortality Study, Place. Aix nic Energy Commission. Germantown, Maryland The site visitors met with the following me.nbers or'the employed at all facilities of the Atomic Energy Ccrnxxissicrr s i x 3
Page 3
of past, present, and future employees. indentified for study will then be followed All indivicfrtals once until closing date of study or until death. of the various Atomic Energy facilities. Ultimately Zis hoped to link all exposure records for a given employee from all facilities i n which he was ever employed. . Follow-up information for the present study is & e e d b survival and to cause of deA'A for deceased employees. There is a further plag t o use disability asan end-point in follow-up, though the disability study is not part of the project u d e r review .... employees ' identified as deceased by the Social Sec - d y revieyN, A number of control groups are t o be included,*\ of 'em-ployees ,-(Zj individuals: accepted for ernploYyiIieE in t h e Atomic individuals selected from Social Secep - riles ina2Zsa th iz g
Page 4
The principal work of the study to date relates to employees of t w o Atomic Energy Commission facilities, those a t Kanford and the Hanford facility employees and for.their sibling con?ml. Preliminary analyses of exposure ere aveilable only for L\e 1 9 4 4 t o Preliminary analyses of survival are avail a j le only for 19.64 experience of the monitored g o u p at Ilanford. . No analyses , ?re avail&G of survival for different exposure groups. personnel rosters and radiation exposure data are now on magnetic tape for - - about 16.other installations, but these data gave not b e e n inspected . Extensive work has been completed on de;reloping the methodology for data collection and analysis and for evaluating t h e quality and completeness of a v ~ i l z b 1 2natefia!, borh es 50 enplcyzent furnished by employies a t time of initial clearance far employment, .
Page 5
and (2) on the ability to identify these siblings for follow-up i n Social Security files. of these two ste ? s , and no information i s available a t this ti= as to possible biases related to this incompleteness. group of individuals -.&o did not accept empioymeiit ("nan-stms") Isto be ascertained from employment files, but it has been determined that such files have not been preserved at st me 5ci!ities, and it is questionable t h a t this control grt>up can be develoFed. Substantial incompleteness is known at each Control groups to be obtained frcn Social Security files have not yet been drawn, pen&ng completion of t h e employee list to which they will be matched, While ;he inethodology for this procedure impossible, Furthermore only five variables are to be used for matching (year of 5irt5, sex, race, year of enral!xent in Sccizl Security, state i n wMc3 Sxid Security nuder was issued). will' have to ;e. used to take into. account at this time whether ' t k matched sz:7r.c!e selected'in teys of 5 ~ 2
Page 6
variables will have adequate overla;, with employees with respect t o socio-economic status or other variables to make these analyses about the planned control groups, they are not felt to negate the control groups c a n b e answered in the very near future; While fhe above .comments indicate so= uncertainty It is hoped that questions as to t h e s-Atability of Dr. Mancuso has been the pfincipal investigator of this study since its ince2tion and has been the administrative director of its He has a history of productivity i n &dustrial health
Page 7
The committee, however, was much impressed by Dr. Elston's discussion of statistical i s s u e s of this study, and it was hoped that he might become increasingly involved. At present he is expected to be used as a consultaat only, contributing 1 5 t o . 2 0 days of Dr. Brodsky and Dr. Becker are understood to be employees of the Atomic Energy Commission and to have good familiarity with was given a responsibility in matters of computing and d a b analysis There was some concern that Dr. Brodsky beyond hls capacity i n these areas. .Isan important one, and it is believed that very usem information - can be obtained from the present study. Strengths of the application are the available employment listings, The most appare.?: weakness of the study at t h i s &Le is the
Page 8
have arisen, some of which could perhaps not have been Many problems i n the use of the available data foreseen. There was some feeling on the part of the review group that the fnvestigators hoped t o achieve a degree of perfection that would not be feasible with the available data and that concern over unavoidable deficiencies was preventing the development of the more crude results that were fessible. It was a l s o disappointing that preliminary results such a s descriptions of the 2opulation and of the exposure experience were not now available. some question a s t o the soundness of the plans for statistical analysis, and the recent consultation with Dr. Elston is felt to be
Page 9
of hazard related t o this type of exposure. will also be useful i n (1) development of the detailed analytic procedure, and (2) indicating the population requirements for more precise estimates. It is recommended that data for early years, for which exposure information i s of poorer quality, be distinguished from the better information or' -later years and that analyses be made separately with and without these early d a a , found LFlat data of the early years do not permit quantitative assignment of exposure, these data should be employed u s i n g only broad qualitative descriptions of exposure. The reviewers problem be prepared a t an early date. It is recommended that a clear description of this 4 . It is =commended that the present investizators co&nue this possibility of a more active rale for t h e ad;.isoyrgroc.!:, is suggested a s a means of suppoiting the investigs-as,
Page 10
5. The review committee noted serious problems with all the sample) but felt that no final decision could be r=J..-e at t h i s time as to sxitability of any of these.. It Is noted t h a t - meaningful results may be possible using only i n - knal cmtrols , namely, employees with no recorded exposure. =e - investigators were well aware of these problem.