Descriptive epidemiologic study of mortality from malignant neoplasms among the population of Seversk and Tomsk

The study of autopsy lung tissue samples from those lived in 12-15 km far from the Siberian Chemical Complex (SCC) found alpha radioactive nuclear fuel products in all of examined samples. To estimate the risks of lung cancer and other types of cancer, we have performed a descriptive research of the rate of deaths from malignant neoplasms among the population of Seversk and Tomsk five to ten years after the accident at the SCC. Dynamic rates of mortality by type of cancer and age at death were analyzed and cancer risks were estimated. High rate of increase in mortality from rectal cancer, skin cancer, and leukemia in the town of Seversk was found. In Tomsk City high rate of increase in mortality from the previously mentioned types of cancer and from lip cancer, mouth cancer, pharynx cancer and esophageal cancer was observed. The average age at death from malignant neoplasms for the population of Tomsk and Seversk is higher as compared with the population of the surrounding areas (р=0.01 and 0.001). However statistically significant excess of deaths from certain types of cancer, in particular, from leukemia (RR=1.4; p=0.05) was found in Tomsk City only.