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The mortality from malignancies of haematopoietic and lymphatic systems (MHLS) among railway engine drivers. Is exposure to low frequency electromagnetic fields associated with an increase of mortality from MHLS?
Author(s) -
BalliAntunes M.,
Pfluger D. H.,
Minder Ch. E.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
environmetrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.68
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1099-095X
pISSN - 1180-4009
DOI - 10.1002/env.3170010110
Subject(s) - confidence interval , standardized mortality ratio , medicine , demography , occupational exposure , environmental health , sociology
In an occupational study of death certificates in the Swiss mortality register in the years 1969‐1983, the mortality experience from malignancies of the haematopoietic and lymphatic systems (abbreviated as MHLS, 8th ICD: 200‐209) among railway engine drivers and two reference categories was analyzed. The reference groups included professions of metal construction and machine building (CI) and technical personnel (C2) respectively. For the railway engine drivers, assumed to be long‐term exposed to extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF), a total of 70,000 man‐years were observed, for C1 and C2 the number of years under observation were 900,000 and 1.56 million respectively. Railway engine drivers showed slightly elevated mortality ratios in comparison to C1: PMR=144, 95% confidence interval=91‐217, SMR=108, CI=69‐163. Comparison against C2 showed statistically significant increased mortality ratios, PMR=163, CI=103‐244, SMR=171, CI=109‐257. Analysis of all causes of mortality showed that railway engine drivers provide a lower support to the hypothesis that exposure to ELF may be leukemogenic.