TY - JOUR
T1 - Time course of health complaints attributed to RF-EMF exposure and predictors of electromagnetic hypersensitivity over 10 years in a prospective cohort of Dutch adults
AU - Traini, Eugenio
AU - Martens, Astrid L.
AU - Slottje, Pauline
AU - Vermeulen, Roel C. H.
AU - Huss, Anke
N1 - Funding Information: We acknowledge financial support by The Netherlands Organization for Health Research (ZonMw) within the program on Epidemiological Perception Research in the field of Electromagnetic Fields and Health under grant numbers 8520000 , 85200002 and 85200003 , and the French Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l'alimentation, de l'environnement et du travail (ANSES) under grant number EST-2018 RF-12 Impact. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors
PY - 2023/1/15
Y1 - 2023/1/15
N2 - Background: Some individuals attribute health complaints to radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) exposure. This condition, known as idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to RF-EMFs (IEI-RF) or electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS), can be disabling for those who are affected. In this study we assessed factors related to developing, maintaining, or discarding IEI-RF over the course of 10 years, and predictors of developing EHS at follow-up using a targeted question without the condition of reporting health complaints attributed to RF-EMF exposure. Methods: Participants (n = 892, mean age 50 at baseline, 52 % women) from the Dutch Occupational and Environmental Health Cohort Study AMIGO filled in questionnaires in 2011/2012 (T0), 2013 (T1), and 2021 (T4) where information pertaining to perceived RF-EMF exposure and risk, non-specific symptoms, sleep problems, IEI-RF, and EHS was collected. We fitted multi-state Markov models to represent how individuals transitioned between states (“yes”, “no”) of IEI-RF. Results: At each time point, about 1 % of study participants reported health complaints that they attributed to RF-EMF exposure. While this percentage remained stable, the individuals who reported such complaints changed over time: of nine persons reporting health complaints at T0, only one reported IEI-RF at both T1 and T4, and two newly reported health complaints at T4. Overall, participants had a 95 % chance of transitioning from “yes” to “no” over a time course of 10 years, and a chance of 1 % of transitioning from “no” to “yes”. Participants with high perceived RF-EMF exposure and risk had a general tendency to move more frequently between states. Conclusions: We observed a low prevalence of IEI-RF in our population. Prevalence did not vary strongly over time but there was a strong aspect of change: over 10 years, there was a high probability of not attributing symptoms to RF-EMF exposure anymore. IEI-RF appears to be a more transient condition than previously assumed.
AB - Background: Some individuals attribute health complaints to radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) exposure. This condition, known as idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to RF-EMFs (IEI-RF) or electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS), can be disabling for those who are affected. In this study we assessed factors related to developing, maintaining, or discarding IEI-RF over the course of 10 years, and predictors of developing EHS at follow-up using a targeted question without the condition of reporting health complaints attributed to RF-EMF exposure. Methods: Participants (n = 892, mean age 50 at baseline, 52 % women) from the Dutch Occupational and Environmental Health Cohort Study AMIGO filled in questionnaires in 2011/2012 (T0), 2013 (T1), and 2021 (T4) where information pertaining to perceived RF-EMF exposure and risk, non-specific symptoms, sleep problems, IEI-RF, and EHS was collected. We fitted multi-state Markov models to represent how individuals transitioned between states (“yes”, “no”) of IEI-RF. Results: At each time point, about 1 % of study participants reported health complaints that they attributed to RF-EMF exposure. While this percentage remained stable, the individuals who reported such complaints changed over time: of nine persons reporting health complaints at T0, only one reported IEI-RF at both T1 and T4, and two newly reported health complaints at T4. Overall, participants had a 95 % chance of transitioning from “yes” to “no” over a time course of 10 years, and a chance of 1 % of transitioning from “no” to “yes”. Participants with high perceived RF-EMF exposure and risk had a general tendency to move more frequently between states. Conclusions: We observed a low prevalence of IEI-RF in our population. Prevalence did not vary strongly over time but there was a strong aspect of change: over 10 years, there was a high probability of not attributing symptoms to RF-EMF exposure anymore. IEI-RF appears to be a more transient condition than previously assumed.
KW - Electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS)
KW - Idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to RF-EMFs (IEI-RF)
KW - Radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs)
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85140039171&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159240
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159240
M3 - Article
C2 - 36209879
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 856
JO - Science of the total environment
JF - Science of the total environment
M1 - 159240
ER -