Low dose radiation in infancy may affect intellect

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Low dose radiation in infancy may affect intellect

Public release date: 1-Jan-2004

Contact: Millington

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BMJ-British Medical Journal

Low dose radiation in infancy may affect intellect

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-01/bmj-ldr123103.php

Effect of low dose of ionising radiation in infancy on cognitive function in

adulthood: Swedish population based cohort study BMJ Volume 327, pp 19-21

Exposure to low doses of ionising radiation in infancy affects intellectual

capacity in later life, conclude researchers from Sweden in this week's BMJ.

CT scanning, which delivers high doses of ionising radiation, is

increasingly being used in young children after minor head trauma.

The study involved 3,094 men who had received radiation therapy before age

18 months during 1930-59. At age 18 or 19 years, their intellectual capacity

was tested and high school attendance was recorded.

The proportion of boys who attended high school decreased with increasing

doses of ionising radiation to both the front and back parts of the brain.

A significant dose-related response was also seen for learning ability and

logical reasoning, but not for spatial recognition.

Intellectual development could be adversely affected when the infant brain

is exposed to ionising radiation at doses equivalent to CT scans of the

skull, say the authors.

The risk and benefits of CT scans in minor head trauma need re-evaluating,

they conclude.