Latent period in induction of radiogenic solid tumors in the cohort of emergency workers

The paper presents results of estimating the latent period of induction of radiogenic solid cancers among Chernobyl emergency workers (males) living in six central regions of Russia. The analysis is based on using medical and dosimetry data gathered by the National Radiation Epidemiological Registry (NRER) over the time period from 1986 to 2005. The cohort size is 59706 persons. These are emergency workers who stayed in the exposure zone in 1986-1987. There were 2562 cases of solid tumors detected during the follow-up time in this cohort. The mean radiation dose is 0.13 Gy. The radiation risk and latent period were estimated using the method of maximum likelihood. The excess relative risk per unit dose was found to be 0.92 (0.28; 1.65 95 % CI) and the minimum latent period of induction of solid tumors is 4.7 years (1.2; 9.4 95 % CI).