Risk of stillbirth in offspring of men exposed to ionising radiation

Abstract

Radiation genetic risk models are employed to predict the frequency of radiation-related stillbirths to partners of occupationally exposed male workers, using the incidence data recently reported by Parker et al from an epidemiological study of Cumbrian births. Expanding on previously developed conservative risk estimates suggests that, of the 130 observed stillbirths to partners of male radiation workers, 0.3 cases would be attributable to paternal preconceptional irradiation, in contrast to the 17.5 (95% confidence interval: 3.1 to 31.9) cases predicted by Parker et al from their preferred dose-response model. The incompatibility of the results reported by Parker et al with those from other investigations, both epidemiological and experimental, and the inability of the study to consider a number of factors which might affect stillbirth rates, particularly those relating to the mother, make it difficult to accept that paternal irradiation received occupationally could have contributed to a detectable increase in stillbirths.