Study finds cosmic rays increased heart risks among Apollo astronauts

[gary]

An article by Irene Klotz and published at Reuters discusses a study
by researchers at Florida State University and NASA that concluded that
Apollo astronauts who went to the Moon were at five times greater
risk of dying from heart disease than shuttle astronauts.

The cited danger is cosmic rays beyond the Earth's magnetic field.

Three Apollo astronauts, including Armstrong, died from cardiovascular
disease.

Originally Posted by Irene Klotz, Reuters

NASA disputed the findings, saying it was too early to draw conclusions about the effect of cosmic rays on Apollo astronauts because the current data is limited.

Originally Posted by Irene Klotz, Reuters

For the study, the researchers examined the death records of 42 astronauts who flew in space, including seven Apollo veterans, and 35 astronauts who died without ever going into space.

They found the Apollo astronauts’ mortality rate from cardiovascular disease was as much as five times higher than for astronauts who never flew, or for those who flew low-altitude missions aboard the space shuttle that orbited a few hundred miles above Earth.

A companion study simulated weightlessness and radiation exposure in mice and showed that radiation exposure was far more threatening to the cardiovascular system than other factors, lead scientist Michael Delp said in an interview.

Story here -
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-sp...-idUSKCN1081MG

[billdan (Bill)]

Gooday Gary,

Well thats sad news indeed, this will probably make NASA re-think about protection when they eventually go to Mars.

Its been known for a while now that pilots and cabin crew have increased incidents of Melanoma if they travel at high altitude for long periods of time, especially at the higher latitudes. Pregnant cabin crew are advised not to fly during their first trimester.

However the radiation dose they are getting is still small compared to what an Astronaut receives.

Regards
Bill

[RobF (Rob)]

Does seem like a limited sample size. Would be interesting to know more about the postulated mechanism, but perhaps they're just presenting what the numbers say. So much we've figured out about CVD in the last 20 years, but still so much that is difficult to predict and understand.

Wonder how much shielding would be required for the radiation in question. Suspect would have been tough to do.

[pdthomas23 (Peter)]

I think it is a pretty rubbish analysis.
You can read it in the original here
http://www.nature.com/articles/srep29901
I would strongly dispute the idea that it compares the risk, as the analysis makes no use of person-years at risk and so on.
It is simply noting that, of the 7 Apollo astronauts who have died (not counting Edgar Mitchell), 3 of them (42%) died of cardiovascular disease, whereas of the 35 astronauts who have died and who have also flown to LEO (but not the Moon) only 4 (11%) have died of CVD, whilst 17 (49%) have died due to accident (Go figure! Can you say Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia?).
Curiously though, of the 35 astronauts who have died but who never flew in space at all, 18 (53%) died due to accident (but that does include 4 first-time fliers who died in the Apollo 1 and Challenger accidents).

Peter Thomas
Oakleigh

[deanm (Dean)]

Their numbers are completely underwhelming - no robust statistical inference can possibly be drawn with such teeny numbers!

Dean