Comment concerning “Childhood leukemia and residential magnetic fields: are pooled analyses more valid than the original studies?” (Bioelectromagnetics 27:1–7 [2006])

✍ Scribed by Leeka Kheifets; Gabor Mezei; Sander Greenland

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 43 KB
• Volume: 27
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0197-8462
• DOI: 10.1002/bem.20257

✦ Synopsis

Elwood [2006] contrasted the conclusions of three selected studies [Linet et al., 1997;McBride et al., 1999; UKCC, 1999] that there is no evidence for an association, to the positive findings of two pooled analyses by Ahlbom et al. [2000] and Greenland et al. [2000]. Elwood argued that these discrepancies may result from shortcomings of the pooled analyses, and suggested that the conclusions of the original studies may be more valid. While we agree that the issue of whether an effect is present remains far from settled, we believe that his analysis involves several conceptual and methodologic oversights which undermine his conclusion.