F. Aging

Review of Thirty Years Study of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Survivors II BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS

Abstract

The hypothesis that ionizing radiation accelerates natural aging has been under investigation at the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission since 1959. Postmortem observations of morphologic and chemical changes, tests of functional capacity, physical tests and measurements, clinical laboratory tests, tissue changes, morbidity, and mortality have all been examined by ABCC investigators interested in this hypothesis. These studies have been beset with conceptual difficulties centered on the definition and measurement of aging. An empirical approach early led to the calculation of an index of physiologic age as a linear combination of age-related tests of various organ systems. Most studies have been negative but have not involved the large numbers that might be required to provide strong evidence for or against the hypothesis. Mortality, however, has been examined on the basis of a large sample and over the period 1950-1972 had provided no support for the hypothesis of radiation-accelerated aging. Ionizing radiation does, of course shorten human life, but its life-shortening effect appears to be the result of specific radiation-induced diseases, especially neoplasms. The hypothesis is now much less attractive than it was 10-20 years ago but still has some value in stimulating research on aging. The experience of the A-bomb survivors provides an unusual opportunity for a definitive test of the hypothesis.