LONG TERM EFFECTS OF RADIOACTIVE IRON ADMINISTERED DURING HUMAN PREGNANCY1

Abstract

Hagstrom, R. M. (Vanderbilt Univ. School of Medicine, Nashville, Tenn. 37203), S. R. Glasser, A. B. Brill and R. M. Heyssel. Long-term effects of radioactive iron administeredduring human pregnancy. Amer. J. Epid., 1969, 90: 1–10.— The effects of maternal and prenatal exposure to the radioactive isotope 59Fe have been analyzed 18–20 years after exposure. Of 751 pregnant women attending the Vanderbilt University Hospital Prenatal Clinic who received the orally administered isotope as part of a study of iron metabolism in pregnancy, 679 (90%) were located and their experience compared with 705 (91%) of 771 women chosen randomly from the same clinic population who did not receive radioiron. Frequency and type of malignancy occurring in the followup period did not differ for the two pregnant female groups. Effect of prenatal exposure to radioactive iron was analyzed in children bom to these mothers. For634 exposed children, one case of leukemia and two cases of sarcoma were discovered. No malignancies occurred in the 655 children in the comparison group. This represents a small, but statistically significant increase (p = .03), and is consistent with previous radiobiologic experience. No difference in the frequency or the type of congenital defect was noted for exposed compared to non-exposed children when analyzedbytrimester of radioiron administration. For children born to exposed mothers following the study pregnancy, no differences in the frequency or the type of congenital defect were noted when compared with subsequent children of non-exposed mothers.