- Associazione Italiana Elettrosensibili - https://www.elettrosensibili.it -

Meta-analysis of extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields and cancer risk: a pooled analysis of epidemiologic studies

[Metanalisi che racchiude 42 studi sulla esposizione alle basse frequenze (inclusi elettrodotti) ed il rischio di sviluppare cancro.
I ricercatori hanno trovato una correlazione statisticamente significativa soprattutto in  ambito residenziale e
negli studi condotti in Area Noramericana.
Ragioni di tipo metodologico potrebbero essere alla base delle differenze tra gli studi.
] 

On Environment International 2015, Volume 88, March 2016, Pages 36–43
doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2015.12.012. [Epub ahead of print]

By:
Yemao Zhang [1]a [2]Jinsheng Lai [1]b [3]Guoran Ruan [1]b [3]Chen Chen [1]b [3]Dao Wen Wang [1]b [3]

a High Voltage Research Institute, China Electric Power Research Institute, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China
b Department of Internal Medicine and the Institute of Hypertension, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China

ARTICLE INFO

Article history
Received: 24 September 2015
Revised: 23 November 2015
Accepted: 10 December 2015
Available: online 15 December 2015

Keywords

ELF-EMFCancer riskMeta-analysis

HIGHLIGHTS

• A significant association between ELF-EMF exposure and cancer risk was identified.
• Subgroup analysis revealed increased risk only in North America, especially in United States.
• However, the data from individual European country was contradicted with each other.
• Increased risk was only observed in residential exposure or interview-based surveys.
• Device measured studies obtained no significant association in overall effects.

ABSTRACT

Studies have suggested that extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMF) may affect physiological functions in animal models. However, epidemiologic studies investigating the association of ELF-EMF with the susceptibility to cancer yield contradictory results. In this comprehensive analysis, we conducted a search for case–control surveys regarding the associations of ELF-EMF and cancer susceptibility in electronic databases. A total of 42 studies involving 13,259 cases and 100,882 controls were retrieved. Overall, increased susceptibility to cancer was identified in the ELF-EMF exposed population (OR = 1.08, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.15, P = 0.02). In the stratified analyses, increased risk was found in North America (OR = 1.10; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.20, P = 0.02), especially the United States (OR = 1.10; 95% CI: 1.01, 1.20, P = 0.03). However, studies from Europe contradict these results. Moreover, a higher risk was found to be statistically significantly associated with the residential exposed population (OR = 1.18; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.37, P = 0.03). Furthermore, an increased cancer risk was found in interview-based surveys (OR = 1.16; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.35, P = 0.04). In device measurement-based studies, a slight increased risk was found only in premenopausal breast cancer (OR = 1.23; 95% CI: 1.01, 1.49, P = 0.04). Our meta-analysis suggests that ELF-EMFs are associated with cancer risk, mainly in the United States and in residential exposed populations. Methodological challenges might explain the differences among studies.

Source/Fonte:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412015301148 [4]