The effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields exposure on human self-reported symptoms: A systematic review of human experimental studies.

Autor: Bosch-Capblanch X; Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Kreuzstrasse 2, 4123 Allschwil, Switzerland; University of Basel, Petersplatz 1, CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: x.bosch@swisstph.ch., Esu E; Department of Public Health, College of Medical Sciences, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria. Electronic address: ekpereonneesu@gmail.com., Oringanje CM; Department of Biology, College of Art & Sciences, Xavier University, Cincinnati, OH 45247, USA. Electronic address: chyoma12@yahoo.com., Dongus S; Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Kreuzstrasse 2, 4123 Allschwil, Switzerland; University of Basel, Petersplatz 1, CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: stefan.dongus@swisstph.ch., Jalilian H; Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Kreuzstrasse 2, 4123 Allschwil, Switzerland; University of Basel, Petersplatz 1, CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: Jalilianh@hotmail.com., Eyers J; Independent Consultant & Senior Research Fellow, 3ie, c/o LIDC, 20 Bloomsbury Square, London WC1A 2NS, United Kingdom. Electronic address: johneyers@hotmail.com., Auer C; Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Kreuzstrasse 2, 4123 Allschwil, Switzerland; University of Basel, Petersplatz 1, CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: christian.auer@swisstph.ch., Meremikwu M; Faculty of Medicine, College of Medical Sciences, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria. Electronic address: mmeremiku@yahoo.co.uk., Röösli M; Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Kreuzstrasse 2, 4123 Allschwil, Switzerland; University of Basel, Petersplatz 1, CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: martin.roosli@swisstph.ch.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Environment international [Environ Int] 2024 May; Vol. 187, pp. 108612. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Apr 02.
DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2024.108612
Abstrakt: Background: The technological applications of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) have been steadily increasing since the 1950s exposing large proportions of the population. The World Health Organization (WHO) is assessing the potential health effects of exposure to RF-EMF.
Objectives: To systematically assess the effects of exposure to RF-EMF on self-reported non-specific symptoms in human subjects and to assess the accuracy of perceptions of presence or absence of RF-EMF exposure.
Methods: Eligibility criteria: experimental studies carried out in the general population and in individuals with idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to EMF (IEI-EMF), in any language.
Information Sources: Medline, Web of Science, PsycInfo, Cochrane Library, Epistemonikos, Embase and EMF portal, searched till April 2022. Risk of Bias (ROB): we used the RoB tool developed by OHAT adapted to the topic of this review.
Synthesis of Results: we synthesized studies using random effects meta-analysis and sensitivity analyses, where appropriate.
Results: Included studies: 41 studies were included, mostly cross over trials and from Europe, with a total of 2,874 participants.
Synthesis of Results: considering the primary outcomes, we carried out meta-analyses of 10 exposure-outcomes pairs. All evidence suggested no or small non-significant effects of exposure on symptoms with high (three comparisons), moderate (four comparisons), low (one comparison) and very low (two comparisons) certainty of evidence. The effects (standard mean difference, where positive values indicate presence of symptom being exposed) in the general population for head exposure were (95% confidence intervals) 0.08 (-0.07 to 0.22) for headache, -0.01 (-0.22 to 0.20) for sleeping disturbances and 0.13 (-0.51 to 0.76) for composite symptoms; and for whole-body exposure: 0.09 (-0.35 to 0.54), 0.00 (-0.15 to 0.15) for sleeping disturbances and -0.05 (-0.17 to 0.07) for composite symptoms. For IEI-EMF individuals SMD ranged from -0.19 to 0.11, all of them with confidence intervals crossing the value of zero. Further, the available evidence suggested that study volunteers could not perceive the EMF exposure status better than what is expected by chance and that IEI-EMF individuals could not determine EMF conditions better than the general population.
Discussion: Limitations of evidence: experimental conditions are substantially different from real-life situations in the duration, frequency, distance and position of the exposure. Most studies were conducted in young, healthy volunteers, who might be more resilient to RF-EMF than the general population. The outcomes of interest in this systematic review were symptoms, which are self-reported. The available information did not allow to assess the potential effects of exposures beyond acute exposure and in elderly or in chronically ill people. It cannot be ruled out that a real EMF effect in IEI-EMF groups is masked by a mix with insensitive subjects. However, studies on symptoms reporting and/or field perceptions did not find any evidence that there were particularly vulnerable individuals in the IEI-EMF group, although in open provocation studies, when volunteers were informed about the presence or absence of EMF exposure, such differences were consistently observed.
Interpretation: available evidence suggests that acute RF-EMF below regulatory limits does not cause symptoms and corresponding claims in the everyday life are related to perceived and not to real EMF exposure status.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: All institutions of all authors reports financial support was provided by World Health Organization. Martin Röösli’s research is entirely funded by public or not-for-profit foundations. He has served as advisor to a number of national and international public advisory and research steering groups concerning the potential health effects of exposure to nonionizing radiation, including the World Health Organization, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), the Swiss Government (member of the working group “mobile phone and radiation” and chair of the expert group BERENIS), the German Radiation Protection Commission (member of the committee Non-ionizing Radiation (A6) and member of the working group 5G (A630)) and the Independent Expert Group of the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority. From 2011 to 2018, M.R. was an unpaid member of the foundation board of the Swiss Research Foundation for Electricity and Mobile Communication, a non-profit research foundation at ETH Zurich. Neither industry nor nongovernmental organizations are represented on the scientific board of the foundation. For the other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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