Home Radon Cancer Risk Calculator for Women
High residential radon was linked to a 30% higher ovarian cancer risk in postmenopausal women — extending radon's known cancer risk beyond lung cancer and providing new evidence that home radon testing has broader cancer prevention relevance for women.
Home Radon Cancer Risk Calculator for Women
High residential radon was linked to a 30% higher ovarian cancer risk in postmenopausal women — extending radon's known cancer risk beyond lung cancer and providing new evidence that home radon testing has broader cancer prevention relevance for women.
Build a women-focused home radon risk calculator that integrates both the well-established lung cancer risk and the newly described ovarian cancer risk into a single, accessible tool. Users would enter their zip code (to get EPA radon zone data), home type, floor of residence, and any previous radon test results to receive a personalized risk context, action recommendations, and links to certified radon testers.
The tool would include educational content explaining why radon seeps into homes, how it's measured, what mitigation costs and effectiveness look like, and why the cancer risk extends beyond lungs. A companion advocacy module would help users contact their state environmental health agency, share the tool with neighbors, and access low-income mitigation assistance programs.
Radon is an entirely preventable cancer risk — cheap to test for, straightforward to mitigate — yet testing rates remain low because most people don't know about the risk and even fewer know it may extend to ovarian cancer. Women's health advocates, gynecologic oncology groups, and cancer prevention organizations lack a focused tool connecting home environment to women-specific cancer risk. This calculator could fill that gap and could be partnered with National Radon Action Month campaigns or ovarian cancer awareness campaigns.
Who Is This For?
Women concerned about cancer prevention, particularly postmenopausal women and those with family histories of ovarian cancer; public health organizations focused on women's cancer prevention.
Skills & Tools Needed
- Web development (interactive form and calculation logic)
- EPA radon zone data API or dataset integration
- Medical writing for clear, non-alarming risk communication
- UX design for health risk calculators
- Knowledge of radon epidemiology and cancer risk communication
Feasibility
high — EPA radon zone data and lung cancer risk tables are publicly available; adding ovarian cancer context requires risk communication writing rather than novel data; a functional tool is achievable in weeks.
Inspired by: Radon and Ovarian Cancer; FDA Rejects Drug Again; Missed Chances for Genomic Testing
