PubMed Health⌕ Search
Home/Archive/PubMed

PubMed · 8318760

Birth defects and high voltage power lines: an exploratory study based on registry data.

E Robert
View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

This is an exploratory study on birth defects in municipalities through which overhead high voltage power lines (HVPL) pass. It was aimed to test the association between maternal residencial proximity to HVPL and congenital anomalies through a case-control study based on data from the Central-East France Registry of Congenital Malformations. Each of the 1688 malformed infants identified through the register was matched with two randomly selected controls in the same maternal age group of the general population. No excess of any specific type of malformation was observed in infants exposed to HVPL. An inverse association was even found between maternal residence in municipalities with potentially high exposure to electromagnetic fields from overhead power lines and congenital anomalies of all types. This was accounted for by low numbers of exposed infants with two types of malformations: skeletal defects and cardiac defects. Difficulties in interpretation of data are addressed and limitations of the study are discussed. If an inverse association were upheld in further work, a possible mechanism might be that exposure to electromagnetic fields may increase the risk of spontaneous abortion of fetuses with anomalies.

Explore related subjects

Abnormalities, Radiation-InducedAdolescentAdultCase-Control StudiesElectric Power SuppliesElectromagnetic FieldsFemaleHumansMiddle AgedPregnancyRegistriesComparative StudyJournal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

E Robert. Birth defects and high voltage power lines: an exploratory study based on registry data.. https://doi.org/10.1016/0890-6238(93)90235-y

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related citations

PubMed2006

Paternal occupational exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields and risk of adverse pregnancy outcome.

BACKGROUND: During the last decades, public concern that radiofrequency radiation (RFR) may be related to adverse reproductive outcomes has been emerging. Our objective was to assess associations between paternal occupational exposure to RFR and adverse pregnancy outcomes including birth defects using population-based data from Norway. METHODS: Data on reproductive outcomes derived from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway were linked with data on paternal occupation derived from the general population censuses. An expert panel categorized occupations according to exposure. Using logistic regression, we analyzed 24 categories of birth defects as well as other adverse outcomes. RESULTS: In the offspring of fathers most likely to have been exposed, increased risk was observed for preterm birth (odds ratio (OR): 1.08, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.03, 1.15). In this group we also observed a decreased risk of cleft lip (OR: 0.63, 95% CI: 0.41, 0.97). In the medium exposed group, we observed increased risk for a category of "other defects" (OR: 2.40, 95% CI: 1.22, 4.70), and a decreased risk for a category of "other syndromes" (OR: 0.75, 95% CI: 0.56, 0.99) and upper gastrointestinal defects (OR: 0.61, 95% CI: 0.40, 0.93). CONCLUSION: The study is partly reassuring for occupationally exposed fathers.

Abnormalities, Radiation-Induced↗
PubMed2006

Pathophysiology of radiation-induced growth hormone deficiency: efficacy and safety of GH replacement.

Radiation-induced growth hormone deficiency (GHD) is primarily due to hypothalamic damage. GH secretion by the pituitary may be affected either secondary to some degree of quantitative deprivation of hypothalamic input or, if the radiation dose is high enough, by direct pituitary damage. As a consequence, the neurosecretory profile of GH secretion in an irradiated patient remains pulsatile and qualitatively intact. The frequency of pulse generation is unaffected, but the amplitude of the GH pulses is markedly reduced. Over the last 25 years, the final heights achieved by children receiving GH replacement for radiation-induced GHD have improved; these improvements are attributable to refinements in GH dosing schedules, increased use of GnRH analogues for radiation-induced precocious puberty, and a reduced time interval between completion of irradiation and initiation of GH therapy. When retested at the completion of growth, 80-90% of these teenagers are likely to prove severely GH deficient and, therefore, will potentially benefit from GH replacement in adult life. Such long-term GH treatment in patients treated previously for a brain tumor means that critical and continuous surveillance must be devoted to the risk of tumor recurrence and the possibility of second neoplasms.

Abnormalities, Radiation-Induced↗
PubMed2006

Clinical validation of the LKB model and parameter sets for predicting radiation-induced pneumonitis from breast cancer radiotherapy.

The choice of the appropriate model and parameter set in determining the relation between the incidence of radiation pneumonitis and dose distribution in the lung is of great importance, especially in the case of breast radiotherapy where the observed incidence is fairly low. From our previous study based on 150 breast cancer patients, where the fits of dose-volume models to clinical data were estimated (Tsougos et al 2005 Evaluation of dose-response models and parameters predicting radiation induced pneumonitis using clinical data from breast cancer radiotherapy Phys. Med. Biol. 50 3535-54), one could get the impression that the relative seriality is significantly better than the LKB NTCP model. However, the estimation of the different NTCP models was based on their goodness-of-fit on clinical data, using various sets of published parameters from other groups, and this fact may provisionally justify the results. Hence, we sought to investigate further the LKB model, by applying different published parameter sets for the very same group of patients, in order to be able to compare the results. It was shown that, depending on the parameter set applied, the LKB model is able to predict the incidence of radiation pneumonitis with acceptable accuracy, especially when implemented on a sub-group of patients (120) receiving [see text]|EUD higher than 8 Gy. In conclusion, the goodness-of-fit of a certain radiobiological model on a given clinical case is closely related to the selection of the proper scoring criteria and parameter set as well as to the compatibility of the clinical case from which the data were derived.

Abnormalities, Radiation-Induced↗