CONGENITAL MALFORMATION AND FETAL MORTALITY TRENDS IN COUNTIES SURROUNDING OAK RIDGE

摘要

Stillbirth and congenital malformation death data have been evaluated for counties surrounding the Oak Ridge nuclear facilities. The observed values were compared with expected values, based on state of Tennessee and East Tennessee rates, for three time periods: prior to the existence of the nuclear facilities;the early years of operation;and the later years of operation. Oak Ridge, which is the closest city to the nuclear facilities, had significantly fewer stillbirths and no difference in congenital malforma¬tions as compared with the state or East Tennessee. No time trend was observed in the 8-county data which could be associated with the higher levels of radioactive releases during the 1944-1957 period followed by a period of lesser releases in the 1958-1971 period. However, a clustering of stillbirths was found for the last time period. In the study, no significant relationship was found between the occurrence of stillbirths and congenital malformation deaths.