Survey of ocular cataracts in radium dial workers

A survey of the medical records of 813 female radium dial workers first exposed to radium before 1930 yielded reports of 119 cataracts in the group whose radium body burden had been measured at least once. After dividing the subjects into high and low dose groups, the data were analyzed according to latency (time between first employment and first diagnosis of cataract), duration of employment and age at first exposure. Duration of employment and age at employment showed no significant correlation with dose. Latency, however, showed a significant negative correlation with dose. Since radiation cataracts tend to occur earlier than so-called senile cataracts, these preliminary data suggest the need for further investigation.