Spatial and temporal variability of personal environmental exposure to radio frequency electromagnetic fields in children in Europe

Mostra el registre complet Registre parcial de l'ítem

• dc.contributor.author Birks, Laura Ellen, 1983-
• dc.contributor.author Dalmau Bueno, Albert
• dc.contributor.author Cardis, Elisabeth
• dc.contributor.author Vrijheid, Martine
• dc.contributor.author Guxens Junyent, Mònica
• dc.date.accessioned 2024-07-30T06:30:38Z
• dc.date.available 2024-07-30T06:30:38Z
• dc.date.issued 2018
• dc.description.abstract Background: Exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) has rapidly increased and little is known about exposure levels in children. This study describes personal RF-EMF environmental exposure levels from handheld devices and fixed site transmitters in European children, the determinants of this, and the day-to-day and year-to-year repeatability of these exposure levels. Methods: Personal environmental RF-EMF exposure (μW/m2, power flux density) was measured in 529 children (ages 8-18 years) in Denmark, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Switzerland, and Spain using personal portable exposure meters for a period of up to three days between 2014 and 2016, and repeated in a subsample of 28 children one year later. The meters captured 16 frequency bands every 4 s and incorporated a GPS. Activity diaries and questionnaires were used to collect children's location, use of handheld devices, and presence of indoor RF-EMF sources. Six general frequency bands were defined: total, digital enhanced cordless telecommunications (DECT), television and radio antennas (broadcast), mobile phones (uplink), mobile phone base stations (downlink), and Wireless Fidelity (WiFi). We used adjusted mixed effects models with region random effects to estimate associations of handheld device use habits and indoor RF-EMF sources with personal RF-EMF exposure. Day-to-day and year-to-year repeatability of personal RF-EMF exposure were calculated through intraclass correlations (ICC). Results: Median total personal RF-EMF exposure was 75.5 μW/m2. Downlink was the largest contributor to total exposure (median: 27.2 μW/m2) followed by broadcast (9.9 μW/m2). Exposure from uplink (4.7 μW/m2) was lower. WiFi and DECT contributed very little to exposure levels. Exposure was higher during day (94.2 μW/m2) than night (23.0 μW/m2), and slightly higher during weekends than weekdays, although varying across regions. Median exposures were highest while children were outside (157.0 μW/m2) or traveling (171.3 μW/m2), and much lower at home (33.0 μW/m2) or in school (35.1 μW/m2). Children living in urban environments had higher exposure than children in rural environments. Older children and users of mobile phones had higher uplink exposure but not total exposure, compared to younger children and those that did not use mobile phones. Day-to-day repeatability was moderate to high for most of the general frequency bands (ICCs between 0.43 and 0.85), as well as for total, broadcast, and downlink for the year-to-year repeatability (ICCs between 0.49 and 0.80) in a small subsample. Conclusion: The largest contributors to total personal environmental RF-EMF exposure were downlink and broadcast, and these exposures showed high repeatability. Urbanicity was the most important determinant of total exposure and mobile phone use was the most important determinant of uplink exposure. It is important to continue evaluating RF-EMF exposure in children as device use habits, exposure levels, and main contributing sources may change.
• dc.description.sponsorship GERoNiMO project: The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 603794 – the GERONIMO Project. REMBRANDT project: This work is supported by Instituto de Salud Carlos III through the project CP13/00054 (Co-funded by European Regional Development Fund/European Social Fund) “Investing in your future”). HERMES project: This work is supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (project number 138190). This research is also supported by the Swiss Research Foundation for Electricity and Mobile Communication (reference number 41). ABCD, The Netherlands: This work is supported by the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (grant 2100.0076) and within the programme Electromagnetic Fields and Health Research (grants 85600004 and 85800001). DNBC, Denmark: This cohort was established by support from the Danish Epidemiology Science Centre; The Lundbeck Foundation (195/04, R100-A9193); Egmont Foundation; March of Dimes Birth Defect Foundation; University of Copenhagen Strategic Grant (IFSV 2012); and the Medical Research Council (SSVF 0646, 271-08-0839/06-066023, O602-01042B, 0602-02738B). INMA, Menorca: This study was funded by grants from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Red INMA G03/176; CB06/02/0041; 97/0588; 00/0021-2; PI061756; PS0901958; PI14/00677 incl. FEDER funds), CIBERESP, Beca de la IV convocatoria de Ayudas a la Investigación en Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas de La Caixa, and EC Contract No. QLK4-CT-2000-00263. INMA, Granada: This research was supported in part by research grants from the Biomedical Research Networking Center-CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), from the Institute of Health Carlos III -supported by European Regional Development Fund/FEDER (FIS-PI13/02406, FIS-PI14/00067, FIS-PI16/01820, FIS-PI16/01812 and FIS-PI16/01858), and from Junta de Andalucía-Consejería de Salud (SAS-PI-0675-2010 and PS-0506-2016). INMA, Valencia: This study was funded by Grants from UE (FP7-ENV-2011 cod 282957 and HEALTH.2010.2.4.5-1), Spain: ISCIII (G03/176; FIS-FEDER: PI11/01007, PI11/02591, PI11/02038, PI13/1944, PI13/2032, PI14/00891, PI14/01687, and PI16/1288; Miguel Servet-FEDER CP11/00178, CP15/00025, and CPII16/00051), and Generalitat Valenciana: FISABIO (UGP 15-230, UGP-15-244, and UGP-15-249). INMA, Sabadell: This study was funded by grants from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Red INMA G03/176; CB06/02/0041; PI041436; PI081151 incl. FEDER funds; PI12/01890 incl. FEDER funds; CP13/00054 incl. FEDER funds, MS13/00054), CIBERESP, Generalitat de Catalunya-CIRIT 1999SGR 00241, Generalitat de Catalunya-AGAUR (2009 SGR 501, 2014 SGR 822), Fundació La marató de TV3 (090430), Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (SAF2012-32991 incl. FEDER funds), Agence Nationale de Securite Sanitaire de l'Alimentation de l'Environnement et du Travail (1262C0010), EU Commission (261357, 308333 and 603794). ISGlobal is a member of the CERCA Program, Generalitat de Catalunya.
• dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
• dc.identifier.citation Birks LE, Struchen B, Eeftens M, van Wel L, Huss A, Gajšek P, et al. Spatial and temporal variability of personal environmental exposure to radio frequency electromagnetic fields in children in Europe. Environ Int. 2018; 117:204-14. DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2018.04.026
• dc.identifier.doi info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/282957
• dc.identifier.issn 0160-4120
• dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10230/60860
• dc.language.iso eng
• dc.publisher Elsevier
• dc.relation.ispartof Environ Int. 2018; 117:204-14
• dc.relation.projectID info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/603794
• dc.relation.projectID info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/3PN/SAF2012-32991
• dc.relation.projectID info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/261357
• dc.relation.projectID info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/308333
• dc.rights © Elsevier http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2018.04.026
• dc.rights.accessRights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
• dc.subject.keyword Cell phones
• dc.subject.keyword Children's health
• dc.subject.keyword Electromagnetic fields
• dc.subject.keyword Radio waves
• dc.subject.keyword Smart phones
• dc.subject.keyword Wireless technology
• dc.title Spatial and temporal variability of personal environmental exposure to radio frequency electromagnetic fields in children in Europe
• dc.type info:eu-repo/semantics/article
• dc.type.version info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion