Abstract
This study assesses gender effects on radiation dose weighting factors used in internal dosimetry. A weighting factor represents the relative contribution of a particular organ or tissue to the total detriment due to the effects from uniform whole body irradiation. Weighting factors are used in the calculation of effective dose formerly called the effective dose equivalent. The 1990 recommendations of International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) Publication 60 introduce a set of weighting factors based on total detriment which includes the probability of attributable fatal cancer, the weighted probability of attributable non-fatal cancer, the weighted probability of severe hereditary effects, and the relative length of life lost. The ICRP method used to determine weighting factors involves averaging the male and female data for five national populations for each component that comprises the total detriment. This research developed a separate set of weighting factors for males and females using United States population data and methods based on ICRP Publication 60. A definite difference between the male and female weighting factors was discovered, but it is was hard to state a justifiable difference due to the many uncertainties involved in the process. Until more research is performed and many of the uncertainties are more firmly established, it is not appropriate to decide whether two sets of weighting factors for the sexes should be used in internal dosimetry assessments.
Spiars, Joanna Hamilton (1994). An evaluation of gender-based weighting factors for internal dosimetry. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /ETD -TAMU -1994 -THESIS -S754.