14
Table 3
Mortality
Exposed

Year
1956
1957.
1958
1959
1962
1962
1962.
1962
1963
1963

Subject
No.
25
38
31
62
30
46
26
56
52
57

Age

&sex
44M
76M
35M
60F
60F
84M
21M_
75F
55F
107F

Unexposed

Probable cause

Year

Hypertensive heart disease
Coronary heart disease, diabetes
Acute varicella
Ovarian cancer
Cancerof cervix*
Arteriosclerotic heart disease
Brain damagefollowingfall from tree
Fractured vertebrae
Poliomyelitis, bulbar
“Old age”(?)

1958
1959
1960
1960
1960
1962
1962
1963

Subject Age
No.

857
854
933
927
861
953
848
886

& sex

65M
55F
56M
65M
68F
48M
41F
54M

Probable cause
Cerebral thrombosis(?)
Infection urinary tract, diabetes
Pneumonia secondary to influenza
Pneumonia secondary to influenza
Diabetes, cancer cervix(?)
Status asthmaticus
Neurosyphilis(?)
Asthma(?)

*Not confirmed by autopsy or biopsy.

The birth rate for the past year was calculated
as in the previous surveys from the number of
births per womanof childbearing age (15 to 45
years). There were 23 such womenin the exposed
group and 39 in the unexposed group. (Not included in either group were 4 unexposed women
whose spouses were exposed males.) For the 2-year
period in the exposed group 8 babies were born,
giving an average of 0.17 births per womanper |
year; in the unexposed group 10 babies were born,
giving a slightly lower birth rate per woman(0.13
per year). The births were all full-term normal deliveries, except one case as noted below.
A review of the entire menstrual and obstetrical
history of the women (examined in 1964) in the
exposed and control groupsis given in Table 4. In
20 exposed womenthere had been total of 136
pregnancies, 19 women delivering 115 living
children for an average of 4.8 babies per woman
for the 24 womenin the group. The samefecundity was noted in the control women, 32 of the 39

women having been pregnant 203 times and delivering 189 living babies, averaging 4.6 children
per mother. The histories of the age of onset of
menstruation and developmentof menarche were.
not too reliable, but the ages of onset for these
events appear to be about the same in the exposed
and the control women.
Table 5 lists the births and fetal deaths by year
since 1954 of Rongelap people. Since it was uncertain whether thelist of births on Utirik Atoll

5d0b719 1

obtained during the 1963 survey was complete, it
was notpossible to calculate an accurate birth rate
for that group. However,the birth rate seemedto
be about the same as noted in other Marshall

Island populations.

Congenital Anomalies
A full-term stillbirth with congenital anomalies

(ectromelus) was born to exposed parents in 1962.

This anomaly is not very uncommon, andin view

of the statistical evaluation the question of radiation implication mustbe left open. One 24-yearold exposed woman(No. 49) was operated on for
ectopic pregnancy in 1962. A case of congenital
heart defect had been notedin a child born ofexposed parents several years ago. This child died at
4 monthsof age. Specific genetic studies have not
been conducted onthis relatively small population,
and only routine examination of new births has

been done. No unusual incidence of defects has
been noted in the newborn. Someofthe defects
noted in both exposed and unexposed children
include patent ductus arteriosus, congenital deformity of the hip, and congenital hypoplasia of
the middle phalanxof the 5th finger.
Miscarriages andStillbirths

Except for the one ectopic pregnancy, no miscarriages were reported during the past 2-year
period, One neonatal death (at 1 month of age)
due to infant diarrhea occurred in a twin born to

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