Occupational extremely low-frequency magnetic field exposure and selected cancer outcomes in a prospective Dutch cohort.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the association between exposure to occupational extremely low-frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MF) and the risk of a priori selected cancer outcomes within the prospective Netherlands Cohort Study.


METHODS
120,852 men and women aged 55-69 years at time of enrollment in 1986 were followed up (17.3 years) for incident lung, breast and brain cancer, and hemato-lymphoproliferative malignancies. Information on occupational history and potential confounders such as sex, age, smoking, alcohol use, and attained educational level were collected at baseline through a self-administered questionnaire. Occupational ELF-MF exposure was assigned with a job-exposure matrix. Using a case-cohort approach, associations with cancer incidence were analyzed with Cox regression stratified by sex, using three exposure metrics: (1) ever had a job with low or high exposure to ELF-MF versus background, (2) duration of exposure, and (3) cumulative exposure.


RESULTS
None of the exposure metrics showed an effect on incidence for lung, breast, and brain cancer, nor any of the assessed subtypes in men and women. Of the hemato-lymphoproliferative malignancies in men, ever high exposed to ELF-MF showed a significant association with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) [hazard ratio (HR) 2.15; 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.06-4.35] and follicular lymphoma (FL) (HR 2.78; 95 % CI 1.00-5.77). Cumulative exposure to ELF-MF showed a significant, positive association with FL but not AML among men.


CONCLUSIONS
In this large prospective cohort study, we found some indications of an increased risk of AML and FL among men with occupational ELF-MF exposure. These findings warrant further investigation.
Division of Environmental Epidemiology, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80178, 3508 TD, Utrecht, The Netherlands, t.koeman@uu.nl.
Tom
T
Koeman
Piet A
PA
van den Brandt
Pauline
P
Slottje
Leo J
LJ
Schouten
R Alexandra
RA
Goldbohm
Hans
H
Kromhout
Roel
R
Vermeulen
D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome