3 en

were >

roentgenograms were obtained for mst of them (1961 to 1963), even the

youngest members of this group were already approaching skeletal maturity.
Cc.

Results

Statural growth data are given in Tables 1 and 2 of Appendix III and in
Figure 1. Three age groupings were used: 0 to 5, 5 to 10, and 10 to 18 years

old as of March 1,

1954.

The two younger age groups were combined (age 9 to

10) for some of the analyses. The numbers of exposed subjects in the 10 to 18
year age groups were extremely small.
Figure 1 demonstrates a consistent retardation of stature among the boys

exposed at age <10.

The differences are statistically significance oaly be-

tween ages 9 and 16, apparently because thyroid medication was administered to
the exposed people on Rongelap after 1963. Figure 1 also indicates that

statural retardation occurred in both subgroups (age 0 to 5 and 5 to 10 at

exposure) brt was more marked ir the younger one. Statural growth in the few
boys exposed at age >10 showed co differences from that in unexposed boys.
Among the girls the statural growth curve (Fig. 1) for those exposed to
fallout at age 0 to 10 was significantly retarded at chronological ages of 6
to 7 years compared with that for the unexposed girls. Figure 1 also shows
that the statural retardation occurred in girls exposed at age <5 but not in
those exposed at age 5 to 10, and disappeared by about age 9. The curves for
girls exposed at age 10 to 18 are quite similar to those for unexposed girls.
These findings suggest that retardation in stature among the exposed
girls occurred earlier and was less prominent and of shorter duration than
among the exposed boys.
Osseous maturation among exposed boys was significantly retarded compared with that in unexposed age peers (see Fig. 2). This retardation was particularly prominent when the boys were 14, 15, and 16 years old, and Figure 2
indicates that it occurred in both age groups (those aged <5 and aged 5 to 10

in 1954).

.

Figure 2 also shows a similar comparison among girls. For the entire
group exposed at age <10, skeletal maturation lagged significantly behind that
in the unexposed girls until about age 10, and thereafter the gap pregres~sively narrowed. Figure 2 suggests taat this retardation in osseous maturation among exposed girls occurred primarily among those exposed at age <5 and
to a very limited degree in those exposed at age 5 to 10.
D.

Discussion
Growth studies on young people exposed to radiation from the atomic

bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki showed that their adult heights were significantly lower than those of the controls (55). Similar analyses were carried
out on statural data from inhabitants of Rongelap and Ailingnae Atolls who
were exposed as children
stature for each exposed
either the plateau value
latest measurement (made

to fallout radiation. The presumptive adult (final)
child is tabulated in Appendix III. This stature is
when several measurements remained the same, or the
after the subject was >20 years old) if the latest

prior measurement had continued to show increase.

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