Residential Exposure to Magnetic Fields and Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Children

Abstract

Our results provide little evidence that living in homes characterized by high measured time-weighted average magnetic-field levels or by the highest wire-code category increases the risk of ALL in children.

Wire coding in the EMF and Breast Cancer on Long Island Study: relationship to magnetic fields

“…The percent agreement for W-L wire codes was 89%, and the k-statistic was 0.83 (95% CI ¼ 0.77-0.89), which were very similar to the 92% agreement and k-statistic of 0.89 (95% CI ¼ 0.84-0.94) found in the NCI childhood leukemia study (Linet et al, 1997;Tarone et al, 1998). The percent agreement for K-S wire codes was 95%, and the k-statistic ¼ 0.91 (95% CI 0.86-0.95), also very close to the results of the NCI childhood leukemia study, which reported 95% agreement and kstatistic of 0.93 (95% CI 0.88-0.97) (Linet et al, 1997;Tarone et al, 1998). The wire mappers selected for EBCLIS had no prior wire coding experience, unlike the NCI study, which had one wire mapper with substantial experience, P-values for testing differences between proportions of homes built prior to 1950, single family residences, W-L wire codes and K-S wire codes by region are for the Pearson w 2 test or Fisher's exact test.…”

“…c EPEFcomposite estimated personal exposure measure=model that includes the mean 24-h broadband measurements in the bedroom and most lived-in room and the test-load coefficient in the most lived-in room. and one without (Linet et al, 1997;Tarone et al, 1998). However, the agreement between EBCLIS mappers was very good.…”

“…In EBCLIS, mean 24-h measurements above 0.1 mT in the bedroom and most lived-in room were found in 42% and 44% of homes, respectively; measurements above 0.2 mT at those locations were present in 20% and 22% of homes, respectively; and measurements above 0.3 mT were found in 11% and 14% of homes, respectively. In childhood leukemia studies, the proportion of residences with measurements above 0.1 mT ranged from 0.5% in Denmark (Olsen et al, 1993) to 36% in states in the NCI childhood leukemia study (Linet et al, 1997;Greenland et al, 2000); measurements above 0.2 mT ranged from 0.4% to 12%, respectively; and measurements above 0.3 mT ranged from 0.4% to 6%, respectively.…”

“…Four wire mappers were trained at two separate sessions, following similar procedures as the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) recent study of childhood leukemia and residential exposure to magnetic fields (Linet et al, 1997). These mappers were trained to: (a) recognize the various types of wiring structures (transmission lines, threephase primary distribution lines, first-span secondaries, and open and spun secondaries of all types) that are important for wire coding purposes; (b) use standardized symbols to construct maps that show these structures and the house under study; (c) use optical range finders to measure the distance between the house under study and nearby wiring structures; and, (d) extract key data from these maps.…”

“…The percentages of OHCC or VHCC homes varied by geographic region, with over 40% of homes classified as such in the more urban Nassau County and 20% classified as such in the more rural Suffolk County. In studies of childhood leukemia, the percentage of homes categorized as OHCC or VHCC ranged from 15% in states included in the NCI childhood leukemia study (Linet et al, 1997) to 50% in Los Angeles (London et al, 1991;Greenland et al, 2000). In a large study of breast cancer in Seattle, Washington, 23% of current residences were categorized as OHCC or VHCC (Davis et al, 2002).…”