13
Table 1
Location of Rongelap Peopie
Exposed
Adult
Majuro
Children
2
Kwajalein
2
2
Rongelap
Eniwetok
Otheratolls
23
49
63
4
84
1
241
6
51
30
103
117
334
1
Age, yr
Rongelap
unexposed
(220
people,
1961)
<15
45.4%
30.0%
619.5
8
20
Total
25
0
Rongelap
exposed (116
people, 1961;
includes
children of
exposed adults)
Median
age.vr
Children
41
1
8
13.8
17.2
10.3
8.6
14.5
4
15
varied, but generally increased, since these people
Percent Distribution of Population by Age Groups
12.3
23.6.
{4.1
4.5
Adult
19
Table 2
15-24
25-44
+5-64
> 65
Unexposed
9
2
2
Total
Children
of exposed parents
werefirst examined in 1957, but the death rate in
this group appears to be about the sameas in the
exposed Rongelap group.
.
Marshall
Islands
=«US..
(1948-50) (1960)
33.8%
18.9
23.9
13.5
3.9
23.6
28.7%
13.8
27.1
20.8
9.6
29.5
Of the 334 Rongelap people, 267 were exam-
wied during the survey on Kwajalein, Majuro, and
Rongelap. In the exposed group 47 adults, 25
children (age < 20), 4 children exposed zn utero,
and 28 children of exposed parents were examined,
and in the unexposed comparison population 77
adults and 86 children.
Births
Since the numberof child-bearing females was
not the samein the exposed and unexposed populations, the birth rate for {960 was calculated on
the basis of numberof births per woman ofchildbearing age, considered to be from [6 through 45
vears. There were 20 such womenin the exposed
group and 29 in the unexposed group (notinclud-
ed in either group were 4 unexposed women whose
spouses were exposed males). In the exposed group
7 babies were born, giving an average of 0.35
births per women, and in the unexposed group 11
babies, giving about the same average (0.38). The
deliveries were reported to be full term and normal, except that one unexposed women(No. 867)
developed severe post-partum hemorrhage and
shock and wassent to the Memorial Hospital at
Majuro, where her Fallopian tubes weretied.
Congenital Anomalies
INTERVAL MEDICAL HISTORY
Mortality
No deaths occurred during 1960 in the exposed
or comparison population except for two infant
deaths. The four deaths that had occurredin the
exposed group over the 7-year post-exposureperiod represent a rate of 7.1 per 1000 population,
whichis about the sameas that reportedfor the
Marshall Islands as a whole (6.8 per 1000). The
unexposed population on Rongelap Island has
One baby, born of unexposed parents, was
anencephalic and died several daysafter birth.
Thefirst instance of congenital anomaly in a child
of exposed parents was reported during thepast
year. This was a congenital heart defect in a baby
born of an exposed mother (No. 75) but unex-
posed father. The baby died at four months ofage.
Unfortunately the diagnosis was not confirmed by
autopsy. A low incidence of patent ductusarteriosus, congenital deformity of the hip, and congeni-—
tal hypoplasia of the middle phalanx ofthefifth