UNSCEAR recently recommended that future research on the lung cancer risk at low radon exposures or exposure rates should focus on more contemporary uranium miners. For this purpose, risk models in the German Wismut cohort of uranium miners were updated extending the follow-up period by 5 years to 1946–2018. The full cohort (n = 58,972) and specifically the 1960 + sub-cohort of miners first hired in 1960 or later (n = 26,764) were analyzed. The 1960 + sub-cohort is characterized by low protracted radon exposure of high quality of measurements. Internal Poisson regression was used to estimate the excess relative risk (ERR) for lung cancer per cumulative radon exposure in Working Level Months (WLM). Applying the BEIR VI exposure-age-concentration model, the ERR/100 WLM was 2.50 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.81; 4.18) and 6.92 (95% CI < 0; 16.59) among miners with attained age < 55 years, time since exposure 5–14 years, and annual exposure rates < 0.5 WL in the full (n = 4329 lung cancer deaths) and in the 1960 + sub-cohort (n = 663 lung cancer deaths), respectively. Both ERR/WLM decreased with older attained ages, increasing time since exposure, and higher exposure rates. Findings of the 1960 + sub-cohort are in line with those from large pooled studies, and ERR/WLM are about two times higher than in the full Wismut cohort. Notably, 20–30 years after closure of the Wismut mines in 1990, the estimated fraction of lung cancer deaths attributable to occupational radon exposure is still 26% in the full Wismut cohort and 19% in the 1960 + sub-cohort, respectively. This demonstrates the need for radiation protection against radon.

UNSCEAR 最近建议，未来关于低氡暴露或暴露率下肺癌风险的研究应重点关注更现代的铀矿开采者。为此，更新了德国 Wismut 铀矿矿工群体的风险模型，将随访期延长了 5 年至 1946 年至 2018 年。对整个队列 ( n  = 58,972)，特别是 1960 年或之后首次雇用的 1960 年以上矿工子队列 ( n  = 26,764) 进行了分析。 1960+子队列的特点是低持续氡气暴露和高质量的测量。使用内部泊松回归来估计工作水平月 (WLM) 内每累积氡暴露的肺癌超额相对风险 (ERR)。应用 BEIR VI 暴露-年龄-浓度模型，年龄 < 55 岁的矿工的 ERR/100 WLM 分别为 2.50（95% 置信区间 (CI) 0.81；4.18）和 6.92（95% CI < 0；16.59），完整组（n  = 4329 例肺癌死亡）和 1960 年以上亚组（n  = 663 例肺癌死亡）的年暴露率分别为 5-14 年和年暴露率 < 0.5 WL。 ERR/WLM 均随着年龄的增长、暴露后时间的增加以及暴露率的升高而降低。 1960 年以上子队列的结果与大型汇总研究的结果一致，ERR/WLM 大约是 Wismut 完整队列的两倍。值得注意的是，在 1990 年 Wismut 矿关闭 20-30 年后，估计因职业氡暴露导致的肺癌死亡比例在整个 Wismut 队列中仍占 26%，在 1960 年以后的子队列中仍分别占 19%。这表明需要针对氡气进行辐射防护。