Residential Magnetic Fields Predicted from Wiring Configurations: I. Exposure Model

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bowman, Joseph D. ; Jiang F ; Jiang L ; Peters, John M. ; Thomas DC
• Description:
  Case-control data on childhood leukemia in Los Angeles County were reanalyzed with residential magnetic fields predicted from the wiring configurations of nearby transmission and distribution lines. As described in a companion paper, the 24-h means of the magnetic field's magnitude in subjects' homes were predicted by a physically based regression model that had been fitted to 24-h measurements and wiring data. In addition, magnetic field exposures were adjusted for the most likely form of exposure assessment errors: classic errors for the 24-h measurements and Berkson errors for the predictions from wire configurations. Although the measured fields had no association with childhood leukemia (P for trend=.88), the risks were significant for predicted magnetic fields above 1.25 mG (odds ratio=2.00, 95% confidence interval=1.03-3.89), and a significant dose-response was seen (P for trend=.02). When exposures were determined by a combination of predictions and measurements that corrects for errors, the odds ratio (odd ratio=2.19, 95% confidence interval=1.12-4.31) and the trend (p =.007) showed somewhat greater significance. These findings support the hypothesis that magnetic fields from electrical lines are causally related to childhood leukemia but that this association has been inconsistent among epidemiologic studies due to different types of exposure assessment error. In these data, the leukemia risks from a child's residential magnetic field exposure appears to be better assessed by wire configurations than by 24-h area measurements. However, the predicted fields only partially account for the effect of the Wertheimer-Leeper wire code in a multivariate analysis and do not completely explain why these wire codes have been so often associated with childhood leukemia. The most plausible explanation for our findings is that the causal factor is another magnetic field exposure metric correlated to both wire code and the field's time-averaged magnitude. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Electricity Electromagnetic Phenomena Hematologic Diseases Magnetic Fields Neoplasms Occupational Health Radiation Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: ELF Magnetic Fields Blood-disorders Cancer Childhood Leukemia Children Electric-properties Electrical-fields Electrical-measurement Electrical-properties Electrical-systems Electrical-transmission Electromagnetic-fields Electromagnetic-radiation Magnetic-fields Models Wire Codes

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• ISSN:
  0197-8462
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DBBS - Division of Biomedical and Behavioral Sciences
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  399-413
• Volume:
  20
• Issue:
  7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20027432
• Citation:
  Bioelectromagnetics 1999 Oct; 20(7):399-413
• Contact Point Address:
  J. D. Bowman, NIOSH, 4676 Colombia Pkwy, Cincinnati, OH 45266 USA
• Email:
  jdb0@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2000
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Bioelectromagnetics
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:37466c4153714e83d42fe2c441a05e1361cdcf6aaae5c67e85db7cdfa208e156c8cbb6d7f43deccc10d9115018e5b29843506628c0e42534a2eb1e5c2eccde80
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/197574/cdc_197574_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 286.81 KB ]