Prenatal exposure to the Chernobyl fallout in Norway and cognitive abilities among conscripts

We use cognitive tests among military conscripts in Norway to further investigate an association between the Chernobyl fallout and mathematical skills previously reported for school grades both in Norway and in Sweden.

The Medical Birth Registry of Norway was linked with data from the Norwegian Armed Forces Health Registry on conscript cognitive scores. Average radiation doses were estimated for each municipality and calendar month from May 1986 to April 1989. Dose in the mother's residential municipality in the fifth calendar month of the pregnancy was used as exposure. Total cognitive score among boys was analysed using a natural-experiment design with pregnancy cohorts from years prior to the fallout as reference. Our analysis estimated whether a difference in scores before and during exposure was specific to regions with higher doses. Sub-scores for numerical reasoning were available only for cohorts after 1986. An alternative sibship analysis using younger brothers as reference was therefore performed.

We found no evidence of reduced total cognitive score in areas with relatively higher average radiation doses. Similarly, there was no evidence that numerical reasoning was reduced.

Our analyses did not identify associations between the Chernobyl radioactive fallout in Norway and cognitive abilities, including mathematics skills, among conscripts exposed in utero. Incomplete participation in conscript testing and the possibility of selection bias is a limitation, although conscript participation was not associated with exposure. Differential time trends in cognitive scores in the study period between areas with higher and lower doses may have biased our analysis.