Studies of the Mortality of A-Bomb Survivors: Report 7. Mortality, 1950-1978: Part II. Mortality from Causes Other than Cancer and Mortality in Early Entrants

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Abstract
Deaths in the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF) Life Span Study (LSS) [Japan] sample were determined for 1975-1978, and mortality was examined for the 28 yr since 1950. An analysis of cancer mortality was presented separately. Whether mortality from causes other than cancer also increased or whether a nonspecific acceleration of aging occurred was studied. Cumulative mortality from causes other than cancer, estimated by the life table method, did not increase with radiation dose in either city [Nagasaki or Hiroshima, Japan], in either sex, or in any of the 5 different age-at-the-time-of-bomb groups. No specific cause of death, other than cancer, exhibited a significant relationship with A-bomb exposure. There was no evidence of a nonspecific acceleration of aging due to radiation in this cohort. Mortality before the LSS sample was established was reanalyzed, with 3 supplementary motality surveys, to determine the magnitude of the possible bias from the exclusion of deaths prior to 1950. It was unlikely that such a bias seriously affected the interpretation of the radiation effects observed in the cohort after 1950. No excess of deaths from leukemia or other malignant tumors was observed among early entrants into these cities in this cohort.