Residential Exposure to Magnetic Fields and Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Children
Martha S. Linet, M.D., Elizabeth E. Hatch, Ph.D., Ruth A. Kleinerman, M.P.H., Leslie L. Robison, Ph.D., William T. Kaune, Ph.D., Dana R. Friedman, Ph.D., Richard K. Severson, Ph.D., Carol M. Haines, M.P.H., Charleen T. Hartsock, B.S., Shelley Niwa, M.A., Sholom Wacholder, Ph.D., and Robert E. Tarone, Ph.D.
Background Previous studies found associations between childhoodleukemia and surrogate indicators of exposure to magnetic fields(the power-line classification scheme known as "wire coding"),but not between childhood leukemia and measurements of 60-Hzresidential magnetic fields.
Methods We enrolled 638 children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia(ALL) who were under 15 years of age and were registered withthe Children's Cancer Group and 620 controls in a study of residentialexposure to magnetic fields generated by nearby power lines.In the subjects' current and former homes, data collectors blindedto the subjects' health status measured magnetic fields for24 hours in each child's bedroom and for 30 seconds in threeor four other rooms and outside the front door. A computer algorithmassigned wire-code categories, based on the distance and configurationof nearby power lines, to the subjects' main residences (for416 case patients and 416 controls) and to those where the familyhad lived during the mother's pregnancy with the subject (for230 case patients and 230 controls).
Results The risk of childhood ALL was not linked to summarytime-weighted average residential magnetic-field levels, categorizedaccording to a priori criteria. The odds ratio for ALL was 1.24(95 percent confidence interval, 0.86 to 1.79) at exposuresof 0.200 µT or greater as compared with less than 0.065µT. The risk of ALL was not increased among children whosemain residences were in the highest wire-code category (oddsratio as compared with the lowest category, 0.88; 95 percentconfidence interval, 0.48 to 1.63). Furthermore, the risk wasnot significantly associated with either residential magnetic-fieldlevels or the wire codes of the homes mothers resided in whenpregnant with the subjects.
Conclusions Our results provide little evidence that livingin homes characterized by high measured time-weighted averagemagnetic-field levels or by the highest wire-code category increasesthe risk of ALL in children.
Source Information
From the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Md. (M.S.L., E.E.H., R.A.K., D.R.F., S.W., R.E.T.); the Children's Cancer Group, Arcadia, Calif. (L.L.R., R.K.S.); the Division of Pediatric Epidemiology and Clinical Research, University of Minnesota School of Medicine, Minneapolis (L.L.R., R.K.S.); EM Factors, Richland, Wash. (W.T.K.); Westat, Inc., Rockville, Md. (C.M.H., S.N.); and Information Management Services, Rockville, Md. (C.T.H.). Investigators and institutions participating in the Children's Cancer Group are listed in the Appendix.
Address reprint requests to Dr. Linet at the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Executive Plaza North, Suite 408, Bethesda, MD 20892-7362.
Leukemia and Exposure to Magnetic Fields
Wartenberg D., Stevens R. G., Levallois P., Gauvin D., Gochfeld M., Funk H., Neutra R. R., Kabat G. C., Linet M. S., Tarone R. E., Robison L. L., Campion E. W.
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N Engl J Med 1997;
337:1471-1474, Nov 13, 1997.
Correspondence
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