Occupational Exposure to Magnetic Fields and the Risk of Brain Tumors

Details

• Personal Author:
  Black PM ; Blair, Austin ; Bowman J ; Coble JB ; Dosemeci, Mustafa ; Fine HA ; Inskip PD ; Linet MS ; Loeffler JS ; Selker RG ; Shapiro WR ; Stewart PA
• Description:
  We investigated the association between occupational exposure to extremely low-frequency magnetic fields (MFs) and the risk of glioma and meningioma. Occupational exposure to MF was assessed for 489 glioma cases, 197 meningioma cases, and 799 controls enrolled in a hospital-based case-control study. Lifetime occupational history questionnaires were administered to all subjects; for 24% of jobs, these were supplemented with job-specific questionnaires, or "job modules," to obtain information on the use of electrically powered tools or equipment at work. Job-specific quantitative estimates for exposure to MF in milligauss were assigned using a previously published job exposure matrix (JEM) with modification based on the job modules. Jobs were categorized as <= 1.5 mG, >1.5 to <3.0 mG, and >= 3.0 mG. Four exposure metrics were evaluated: (1) maximum exposed job; (2) total years of exposure >1.5 mG; (3) cumulative lifetime exposure; and (4) average lifetime exposure. Odds ratios (ORs) were calculated using unconditional logistic regression with adjustment for the age, gender, and hospital site. The job modules increased the number of jobs with exposure >= 3.0 mG from 4% to 7% relative to the JEM. No statistically significant elevation in ORs or trends in ORs across exposure categories was observed using four different exposure metrics for the three tumor types analyzed. Occupational exposure to MFs assessed using job modules was not associated with an increase in the risk for glioma, glioblastoma, or meningioma among the subjects evaluated in this study. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Carcinogens Case Reports Electricity Electromagnetic Phenomena Environmental Exposure Environmental Monitoring Epidemiology Magnetic Fields Neoplasms Nervous System Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Risk Assessment Safety Surveys And Questionnaires Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Glioma Biological-effects Biological-systems Brain-tumors Cancer Cancer-rates Case-studies Electric-power-transmission-lines Electrical-equipment Electromagnetic-absorption Electromagnetic-energy Electromagnetic-fields Electromagnetic-interference Electromagnetic-wave-transmission Environmental-exposure Exposure-assessment Exposure-levels Exposure-methods Job-analysis Job Modules Magnetic-fields Magnetic Fields Meningioma Neurological-reactions Occupation Occupational-exposure Occupational-health Occupations Oncogenicity Power-tools Quantitative-analysis Questionnaires Risk-analysis Statistical-analysis Tumorigenesis Tumorigens Work-environment Work-operations Work-performance Worker-health

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• ISSN:
  1522-8517
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Arizona ; Maryland ; Massachusetts ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 9 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  242-249
• Volume:
  11
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20035561
• Citation:
  Neuro-Oncology 2009 Jun; 11(3):242-249
• Contact Point Address:
  Joseph B. Coble, Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, National Cancer Institute, 6120 Executive Blvd., Rockville, MD 20892
• Email:
  jcoble@mail.nih.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Neuro-Oncology
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:9b01e79a84ef96222aa7aa194da4805e7872331ed9152b07352c240040f5359e540d59e24619829a5d3279b2e89c5e9ce068e2002d29efbc21a49d48a7dd94ee
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/187385/cdc_187385_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 363.83 KB ]