Dale L. Preston, Ph.D.
Biostatistician
Hirosoft International Corporation1335 H St., Eureka, CA 95501
preston@hirosoft.net

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Following a brief review of the nature of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 and a discussion of the early studies of health effects in the survivors, the cohorts that form the basis for the continuing studies of radiation health effects in the survivors and their children are described.  The efforts to develop dose estimates for individual survivors and the uncertainties in these estimates are outlined.  The bulk of this presentation focuses on the methods used to quantify radiation effects in the survivors and description of some of the major results of more than 60 years of research in these populations.  The presentation highlights the importance of excess relative rate (risk) and excess absolute rates models as complementary descriptions of the radiation effects and how these effects vary depend on age, time, and gender, and other factors.  The specific outcomes discussed include the risks for all solid cancers and leukemia, the interaction between radiation and smoking on lung cancer risks, and the difficulties in describing and interpreting estimates of cancer risks for specific sites.