Assessment of uncertainties in threshold doses for tissue reactions following acute external radiation exposure.

This article focuses on estimating threshold radiation doses and their uncertainties for acute tissue reactions following short-term high dose-rate ionizing radiation exposure, using data from the Mayak Production Association (PA) cohort of Russian nuclear workers. It compares three estimation techniques—quantile, distribution function (effective threshold dose), and constructive approaches—finding that the distribution function technique yields the most statistically significant and precise threshold dose estimates for acute radiation syndrome (ARS) onset, lethality, agranulocytosis, and vomiting. The study highlights that threshold doses derived from peripheral blood neutrophil and lymphocyte counts were not statistically significant due to high uncertainties. This research provides the first representative assessment of statistical significance and relative uncertainties of threshold doses based on a large, well-documented cohort exposed to acute high dose-rate radiation.