We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Michael Reese Hospital and the Campaign to Warn the US Public of the Long-Term Health Effects of Ionizing Radiation, 1973–1977.
- Authors
Bavli, Itai; Shvarts, Shifra
- Abstract
In July 1973, a study at the University of Chicago linked radiation treatment during childhood to a variety of diseases, including thyroid cancer. A few months later, a worker at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, Illinois found a registry of 5266 former patients who had been treated with radiation during the 1950s and 1960s. Hospital officials decided to contact these patients and arrange for follow-up medical examinations. Media coverage of the hospital's campaign had a snowball effect that prompted more medical institutions to follow suit, resulting in the National Cancer Institute (NCI) launching a nationwide campaign to warn the public and medical community about the late health effects of ionizing radiation. This study describes how the single action of a hospital in Chicago and the media attention it attracted led to a national campaign to warn those who underwent radiation treatment during childhood.
- Subjects
ILLINOIS; UNITED States; PHYSIOLOGICAL effects of ionizing radiation; MICHAEL Reese Hospital &; Medical Center; HEALTH education; RADIOTHERAPY complications; THYROID cancer; PUBLIC health; FOLLOW-up studies (Medicine); RADIATION exposure; NATIONAL Cancer Institute (U.S.); HEALTH promotion; THERAPEUTIC complications; THYROID gland tumors; HEALTH facility administration; HOSPITALS; RADIATION; RADIATION injuries; PREVENTION; TUMOR risk factors
- Publication
American Journal of Public Health, 2019, Vol 109, Issue 3, p398
- ISSN
0090-0036
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2105/AJPH.2018.304763