The risk of childhood leukaemia in children whose parents are occupational exposure to ELF MF

Authored By:

Talibov et al

Summary:

This meta-analysis examined the possible link between parental occupational exposure to extremely low frequency magnetic fields (ELF MF) and the risk of childhood leukaemia in their children. The study considered 11 case-control studies, which when combined included 9723 cases of childhood leukaemia and 17099 controls. Parents had their occupational exposure to ELF MF estimated using a job-exposure matrix. The study found no increased risk of either acute lymphoblastic leukaemia or acute myeloid leukaemia at any exposure level of the parents. For maternal exposure during pregnancy of greater than 0.2 microtesla the odds ratios (OR) for their offspring developing acute lymphoblastic leukaemia was OR 1.00 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.89 to 1.12) and for acute myeloid leukaemia OR 0.85 (95% CI 0.61 to 1.16). The authors concluded that this study provided no evidence of an association between parental occupational exposure to ELF MF and childhood leukaemia.

Link to:

Parental occupational exposure to low-frequency magnetic fields and risk of leukaemia in the offspring: findings from the Childhood Leukaemia International Consortium (CLIC)

Published In:

Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 2019

Commentary by ARPANSA:

The findings of this meta-analysis are consistent with a previous study by (Reid et al, 2011) who also found no increased risk of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia with parental occupational exposure to ELF MF. The international guidelines for exposure to ELF MF set by the International Commission on Non-ionizing Radiation Protection set exposure limits to protect the public from all known established risks of exposure to ELF MFs.