Population characteristics and absorbed dose to the population from nuclear medicine: United States--1982.

Those in the U.S. population who receive nuclear medicine examinations have been characterized by age and sex. Males received 42% of examinations while females received 58%. More than one-third of the examinations were done on persons older than 64 y of age and more than two-thirds on patients older than 45 y of age. The per caput effective dose equivalent from nuclear medicine procedures in 1982 was 140 muSv (14 mrem); whereas, the per caput age-specific effective dose equivalent to the U.S. population was 50 muSv (5.9 mrem). These can be compared with 2 mSv (200 mrem) from natural background.