Misclassification of ELF occupational exposure resulting from spatial variation of the magnetic field.
The adequacy of a single hip- or chest-worn magnetic field dosimeter to reliably classify subjects with respect to their occupational ELF magnetic field exposure is investigated. Hip-worn dosimeters consistently underestimate both whole-body average exposure and head exposure, tentatively regarded here as two possible definitions of the "true" exposure measurement. The approximate resulting bias in the relative risk estimate in hypothetical case-control studies is evaluated. A chest-worn dosimeter is found to be generally superior to a hip-worn one in assessing exposure during the occupational tasks considered here.
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Australian Radiation Laboratory, Yallambie, Victoria.
D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000145:classification*; D011874:Radiometry / Q000295:instrumentation*