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Potential motion related bias in the worn dosimeter measurements of two childhood leukemia studies
Author(s) -
Leeper Ed,
Wertheimer Nancy
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
bioelectromagnetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.435
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1521-186X
pISSN - 0197-8462
DOI - 10.1002/bem.10033
Subject(s) - dosimeter , childhood leukemia , referent , leukemia , motion (physics) , positron , medicine , nuclear medicine , physics , dosimetry , lymphoblastic leukemia , nuclear physics , linguistics , philosophy , classical mechanics , electron
Time averaged field measurements produced by a Positron™ dosimeter worn by study subjects was the primary method of exposure evaluation in two Canadian studies of childhood leukemia and AC magnetic field exposure. Statistically significant but mutually contradictory results obtained in the two studies, done in different locales but under similar study conditions, have not been explained. This report examines operational features of the Positron meter, including an unanticipated sensitivity to wearer motion. If the convalescent cases studied were less active than their healthy controls, as one might expect, then the meter's characteristic responses to motion, particularly as they would affect case‐control distributions above and below the different referent group cutpoints used in the two studies, could help to explain both the unexpected inverse risks reported in the larger study and the unusually high risks reported in the smaller study. Bioelectromagnetics 23:390–397, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.