A comment on a Swedish (Karolinska Institute) paper of epidemiology related to cancer and magnetic fields of power lines

✍ Scribed by Yoshifumi Amemiya

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 185 KB
• Volume: 129
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0424-7760
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1520-6416(199912)129:4<39::aid-eej6>3.0.co;2-4

✦ Synopsis

The Swedish (Karolinska Institute) epidemiology investigation, which has been carried out on cancers in children residing near high-voltage power lines in and outside Stockholm county during 1960 to 1985, makes the conclusion that there is a significant association between the historical magnetic fields calculated and childhood leukemia. Employing the results of the stratum-specific analyses, and assuming that the relative risk of childhood leukemia is significant whenever the lower limit of its 95% confidence interval is above unity, we learn that the association is seen for children diagnosed during 1975 to 1985 residing outside Stockholm county, while it is not seen for those diagnosed 19601974 residing in and outside Stockholm county. We thus conclude that the association is not a causal relation, because consistency of association was not always seen throughout the areas and periods investigated. Therefore, we have no alternative but to consider that the conclusion which suggests that the same association is to be observed in every area and during every period is not valid.