| Addendum to the cross-sectional study on acute health effects caused by fields of mobile phone base stations |
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Topic Addendum to the cross-sectional study on acute health effects caused by fields of mobile phone base stations Start 25.12.2005 End 31.12.2006 Project Management University of Bielefeld in cooperation with the University of Mainz Objective The strong increase of mobile telecommunication in the past years lead to an increased concern of the population about possible adverse health effects due to the fields of cell-phone base stations. In this regard several health complaints were addressed such as headache, sleep disturbances, nervousness, difficulties in concentration and so on. The available scientific evidence provides no explanation for such an association. Within the framework of the project “Cross-sectional study on possible adverse health effects due to the electromagnetic fields of cell phone base stations” for a sub-group of about 3.200 people detailed information on health effects and potential confounder had been collected. Geo-coded data of the base-stations and residences as well as further information on living-environment and characteristics of the antenna had been used, to calculate a surrogate for exposure to fields of base stations. This surrogate was aimed to be used for the risk assessment. Actual evaluations of the surrogate, however, suggested a substantial misclassification of the exposure, which may lead to a bias in risk estimate. Meanwhile there exist personal dosimeters that allow individual exposure assessment in the residence. The objective of the project was, to apply personal dosimetry in the subgroup of persons of the above mentioned study who agreed to perform measurements. For this group risk assessment based on individual measurements should be performed. The detailed results of the study are found in the common final report of the project “Cross-sectional study on possible adverse health effects due to the electromagnetic fields of cell phone base stations” and the present project. The final report can be downloaded as PDF-file (1.500 KB) in German language. Overall 1.808 individuals of the 3.256 survey agreed to perform a measurement. For 1.500 individuals measurements were successfully performed in the bedroom by use of dosimeters of the company Antenessa. After exclusion of all subjects with missing values in the relevant variables the final dataset for risk analyses included 1.326 individuals. For risk analysis the mean total field exposure in V/m of the fields of the base stations was calculated and dichotomized by the 90 % percentile (0,0993 V/m). Five outcome variables were defined: headache, sleep disturbances, health complaints in general, quality of life physical and psychological. In the regression model potential confounders such as age, sex, living surrounding, use of mobile phones, chronic stress, anxiety and depression were considered. The main results are as follows:
Conclusions The main survey provided the first nationwide information on how the sites of base stations are distributed over Germany and how many private households are in the near surrounding of a base station as well as on prevalence of health complaints, prevalence of concerns about base stations and prevalence of the attribution of health complaints on the base stations. The risk analyses of this in depth survey showed no association between the measured HF-EMF fields of base stations and self reported health complaints. The results of this study as well as the results of the up to now finished experimental studies of this topic in the German telecommunication program suggest no causal relationship between the fields of base stations and acute health complaints among adults. |