Occupational exposure to magnetic fields in case-referent studies of neurodegenerative diseases

Curtis W Noonan, John S Reif, Michael Yost, Jennifer Touchstone
2002 Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health  
Refers to the following text of the Journal: 1998;24(1):0 The following article refers to this text: 2017;43(3):191-289 Noonan CW, Reif JS, Yost M, Touchstone J. Occupational exposure to magnetic fields in case-referent studies of neurodegenerative diseases. Scand J Work Environ Health 2002;28(1):42-48. Objectives Case-referent studies of Alzheimer's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Parkinson's disease were conducted to explore the relationship between these neurodegenerative
more » ... and occupational exposure to magnetic fields. Three methods of exposure assessment were used for the comparison, and the consistency of findings between these approaches was evaluated. Methods Separate case-referent sets were formed from among recorded deaths of males in the state of Colorado for the years 1987 through 1996. The following three methods of exposure assessment were used: a dichotomous grouping of electrical versus nonelectrical occupations, a three-tiered grouping of potential magnetic-field exposure based on a combination of job title and industry, and categories of exposure based on the means of the magnetic fields estimated from a job-exposure matrix. Results A positive association was observed for Parkinson's disease with all the methods of magnetic-field exposure assessment, the odds ratio (OR) for the highest category in the job-exposure matrix being 1.50 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.02-2.19]. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis was associated with a history of electrical occupations (OR 2.30, 95% CI 1.29-4.09) but not with magnetic-field exposure as estimated by the job-exposure matrix. No consistent associations with magnetic fields were observed for Alzheimer's disease. Conclusions This study provides some support for an association between occupational magnetic-field exposure and Parkinson's disease, but the findings are novel and require replication. Associations with the other neurodegenerative diseases were inconsistent and dependent on the method of exposure assessment.
doi:10.5271/sjweh.645 fatcat:hvnm6xvq4betnolm7avgfahq7m