Your home should be a safe place, but there may be an invisible, odorless danger inside that puts women at higher risk for a deadly disease.
A new study in JAMA Network Open found that high levels of indoor radon gas are linked to a greater chance of developing and dying from ovarian cancer. This invisible radioactive gas could be raising women’s risk for ovarian cancer, according to the study.
“The risks of ovarian cancer, particularly serous ovarian cancer, were significantly higher in the high radon zone,” concluded the research team led by Gary Schwartz, chair of population health at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences.
These odds were even higher if a woman had a family history of breast cancer, the study found.
Researchers said that about 25 percent of Americans live in homes with radon levels above 4.0 pCi/L, the level at which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends taking action to reduce exposure.
“Because serous ovarian cancer is highly fatal, and because radon levels in homes can be reduced, our findings could have large implications for ovarian cancer prevention,” the team wrote.
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Radon gas is naturally released from rocks, soil and water. It can get trapped inside homes and build up, contaminating indoor air.
Radon is considered the second-leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S., according to the EPA.
“This study is really the first to report that environmental radon exposure, which is a fairly common environmental hazard, can lead to an increased risk of ovarian cancer in women,” said Dr. Jacqueline Moline, who reviewed the findings. She’s senior vice president and chair of occupational medicine, epidemiology and prevention at Northwell Health in New York City.
“It’s something that has been identified as a lung cancer risk for decades, but this is the first time in a very large study that someone has been able to demonstrate that radon can also lead to ovarian cancer,” she said in a news release.
Researchers suspected radon might be involved in ovarian cancer, given that exposure to ionizing radiation had been shown to increase ovarian cancer risk among World War II atomic bomb survivors.
“The largest source of ionizing radiation for most individuals is from radon, a naturally occurring gas produced by the decay of uranium and other radioactive elements present in soil,” researchers wrote.
In this new study, researchers followed nearly 128,000 women who took part in a large health research project.
The team estimated each participant’s radon exposure using their home addresses and National Geological Survey data. They classified exposure as low (less than 2 pCi/L), medium (2 to 4 pCi/L), or high (more than 4 pCi/L).
Results showed that women exposed to high radon levels had a 31 percent inreased risk of ovarian cancer, compared to those exposed to low levels.
Researchers also found that women in the high radon zone were 31 percent more likely to die from ovarian cancer than those in the low zone.
“The most important thing is to get your house checked, because it’s a simple test that can be done,” Moline said. “If there are elevated levels, they can be remediated. There are various ways that can happen, to get the radon levels down to a safe level.”
Moline also pointed out that researchers found a link between radon exposure and a history of breast cancer in relation to ovarian cancer risk.
Women with high radon exposure and a family history of breast cancer were 63 percent more likely to develop ovarian cancer, the study said.
These results indicate that radon might interact with cancer-causing mutations of genes like BRCA, Moline said.
“That’s why if you know there’s a family history of breast cancer, make sure your home doesn’t have radon in it, and if it does, get it taken care of,” Moline said.
RELATED: I Was the Picture of Health—Until Radon Gave Me Lung Cancer
While the link between radon and ovarian cancer is a sobering discovery, the good news is that radon exposure is a preventable health risk. Here are actionable steps you can take to protect yourself and your family:
You cannot see, smell, or taste radon, so testing is the only way to know if you are at risk.
Radon levels are measured in picocuries per liter (pCi/L).
If your radon levels are high, you can install a mitigation system, usually a vent pipe and fan. This system pulls radon from under your house and vents it safely outside.
As the study suggests, women with a family history of breast cancer (which may indicate a BRCA gene mutation) should be especially vigilant.
If you are moving, make sure a radon test is part of your home inspection. Many states now require radon disclosure during real estate transactions.
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