Indoor Radon Concentrations and Hematologic Traits in the Women's Health Initiative

We examined radon's association with the complete blood count and leukocyte differential to better understand radon-related risks of stroke and myocardial infarction previously observed in the Women's Health Initiative.

We conducted a repeated-measures analysis in this prospective cohort of postmenopausal women enrolled between 1993 and 1998 and examined at 5 visits over 19 years in 40 US clinical centers (n = 154,630). We estimated indoor radon concentrations (pCi/L) at time-varying, geocoded addresses of participants (1993-2013) by linking them to the US Geological Survey Radon Index (1993) zoned by US Environmental Protection Agency Action Levels. We estimated covariate-adjusted, longitudinal associations of radon concentrations with complete blood count components using linear mixed-effects models. In a subset (n = 6,313), we evaluated cross-sectional associations with the complete blood count differential using multivariate compositional data analysis.

At 2-4 and >4 pCi/L, adjusted mean (95% confidence interval) leukocytes were 48 (33, 63) and 78 (58, 98) cells/μL lower than at <2 pCi/L, while platelets, hematocrit, and hemoglobin were higher: 315 (-280, 910) and 2,033 (1,248, 2,818) cells/μL; 0.27% (0.24%, 0.30%) and 0.23% (0.19%, 0.27%); and 0.09 (0.08, 0.10) and 0.09 (0.07, 0.10) g/dL. Nonlinear spline models of the Radon Index revealed similar associations. Lymphocyte percentages were lower, and other percentages were higher at higher (>4 pCi/L) versus lower (<2 pCi/L) radon concentrations in nonlinear compositional data analysis.

The radon-related cardiovascular implications of these modest, prothrombotic, myeloid shifts in the complete blood count/differential among postmenopausal women in the Women's Health Initiative remain unknown.