News | Radiation Dose Management | July 22, 2016

Study comparing cancer, mortality rates of radiologists and psychiatrists finds lower incidences in first group, suggesting radiation protection improvements have been successful

radiologists, radiation-related mortality risk, study, Amy Berrington de Gonzalez

July 22, 2016 — Radiologists who graduated from medical school after 1940 do not face an increased risk of dying from radiation-related causes like cancer, according to a new study appearing online in the journal Radiology. Researchers said the findings point to the success of efforts to reduce occupational radiation doses over the past several decades.

Studies of mortality among radiologists are important for evaluating radiation protection measures and understanding the long-term effects of protracted exposure to low-level radiation. Previous U.S. studies have been limited by smaller datasets and reflect only earlier time periods. In the United States, the last follow-up of radiologists ended in 1975, leaving a large gap in understanding the risks today.

Study leader Amy Berrington de González, D.Phil., chief of the Radiation Epidemiology Branch at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), in Bethesda, Md., and her colleagues based the new study on records from the American Medical Association (AMA) Physician Masterfile, a database established in 1906 that has grown to include current and historical data for more than 1.4 million physicians, residents and medical students in the United States.

They compared cancer incidence and mortality rates between 43,763 radiologists and 64,990 psychiatrists who graduated from medical school between 1916 and 2006. Psychiatrists were chosen as a comparison group because they are unlikely to have had occupational radiation exposure.

"There's been a big change in practice over the past few decades, with more doctors performing fluoroscopically-guided procedures, making it more and more difficult to find a physician comparison group that did not have exposure to radiation," noted Martha Linet, M.D., study co-author and senior investigator at the NCI Radiation Epidemiology Branch.

Overall, male radiologists who graduated after 1940 had a better health profile than that of their psychiatrist colleagues. The death rate for radiologists from all causes was lower and there was no evidence of increased mortality from radiation-related causes such as cancer or cardiovascular disease.

"Our most important finding is that radiologists have lower death rates from all causes of death combined, compared to psychiatrists, and had similar risks of cancer deaths overall," Linet said.

In contrast, radiologists who graduated before 1940 faced increased death rates from certain conditions, including acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome, which are known to be related to occupational radiation exposure. In these earliest workers, there were also increased death rates from melanoma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The older radiologists also had a higher risk of cerebrovascular disease. Research in the last few years has found evidence that low to moderate doses of radiation may be associated with circulatory diseases and stroke.

The reduced health risks for more recent radiology graduates are likely due to developments and improvements in radiation protection and monitoring, according to the researchers, along with improvements in equipment safety.

"Most of the findings of increased risk were in the earlier radiologists," Linet said. "We do feel there is evidence that decreases in dose in the United States and other countries seem to have paid off, reducing risks in recent graduates."

For more information: pubs.rsna.org/radiology


Related Content

News | X-Ray

July 24, 2025 — GE HealthCare has announced the commercial availability of an advanced floor-mounted digital X-ray ...

Time July 24, 2025
arrow
News | Artificial Intelligence

July 17, 2025 — HOPPR, a secure AI development platform for medical imaging, has announced the commercial release of its ...

Time July 17, 2025
arrow
News | Breast Imaging

July 17, 2025 — RadNet, Inc., a provider of high-quality, cost-effective diagnostic imaging services and digital health ...

Time July 17, 2025
arrow
News | Focused Ultrasound Therapy

July 15, 2025 — Newswise —The UK Focused Ultrasound Foundation and Pancreatic Cancer UK have announced a new partnership ...

Time July 16, 2025
arrow
News | Digital Radiography (DR)

July 10, 2025 — Fujifilm Healthcare Americas Corp. has launched several advanced automated functions for its FDR ...

Time July 10, 2025
arrow
News | Computed Tomography (CT)

July 01, 2025 — NANO-X Imaging Ltd. recently announced a clinical and educational collaboration with Keiser University ...

Time July 03, 2025
arrow
News | Ultrasound Imaging

June 26, 2025 — FUJIFILM VisualSonics Inc., a provider of ultra-high frequency ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging ...

Time June 27, 2025
arrow
News | Imaging Software Development

June 12, 2025 — GE HealthCare has announced the combination of GE HealthCare’s proprietary features and algorithms with ...

Time June 12, 2025
arrow
News | Radiology Business

The issue of sustainability in healthcare has gained increasing focus over the past several years. During a 2022 plenary ...

Time May 06, 2025
arrow
News | Radiology Imaging

Nov. 13, 2024 — Agfa Radiology Solutions will feature live demonstrations of state-of-the-art digital X-ray rooms ...

Time November 14, 2024
arrow
Subscribe Now