Bone marrow dose estimates from work-related medical x-ray examinations given between 1943 and 1966 for personnel from five U.S. nuclear facilities.

Inclusion of dose from work-related medical x-ray examinations with occupational external dose in an epidemiological study may reduce misclassification of exposures and provide more accurate assessment of leukemia risk from occupational exposure to ionizing radiation. In a multi-site leukemia case-control study, annual bone marrow doses due to work-related x-ray examinations given between 1943 and 1966 were estimated for cases and controls employed at five nuclear facilities. Only active bone marrow dose from photofluorographic chest and routine lumbar spine x rays were included. Bone marrow dose assigned for a single exposure ranged from 1.0 to 1.4 mGy. Mean and median cumulative bone marrow doses for each of the five sites from work-related x-ray examinations ranged from 2.0 to 14 mGy and 2.1 to 8.8 mGy, respectively. Results suggest that bone marrow dose from work-related photofluorographic and lumbar spine x-ray examinations given during the time period of this study may be significant compared to occupational bone marrow dose.