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Increased incidence of cancer in a cohort of office workers exposed to strong magnetic fields
Author(s) -
Milham Samuel
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0274(199612)30:6<702::aid-ajim6>3.0.co;2-s
Subject(s) - medicine , cohort , confidence interval , incidence (geometry) , odds ratio , cancer , cohort study , cancer incidence , occupational medicine , standardized mortality ratio , demography , epidemiology , physics , sociology , optics
A small cohort of 410 office workers (263 men and 147 women, ever employed) exposed to strong magnetic fields by three 12 kV transformers located beneath their first‐floor office developed eight incident cancers over a 15 year exposure period. Only one cancer was ascertained in the 254 workers employed for less than 2 years, compared to seven cancer cases ascertained in the 156 workers employed for 2 years or more (p = 0.0057; Fisher's exact test). An analysis of linear trend of cancer incidence using average years employed as an exposure score was positive (p = 0.00337) with an odds ratio of 15.1 in workers employed over 5 years. A positive trend of cancer cases with duration of employment is seen for males and females separately and together (p < 0.05). For workers employed more than 2 years, the standardized cancer incidence ratio was 389 (95% confidence interval 156–801). Cumulative magnetic field exposure may be of etiologic importance in explaining the cancer incidence pattern in this cohort. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.