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Revista Cubana de Higiene y Epidemiología
On-line version ISSN 1561-3003
Abstract
BARCELO PEREZ, Carlos; GUZMAN PINEIRO, Raisa and TAUREAUX DIAZ, Niurka. Low frequency electromagnetic fields and childhood leukemia in the City of Havana. Rev Cubana Hig Epidemiol [online]. 2005, vol.43, n.3, pp. 0-0. ISSN 1561-3003.
The etiological hypothesis of childhood leukemia that relates low frequency electromagnetic fields to the induction of this disease is still unconfirmed. In order to clarify the possible influence of the magnetic component of low frequency electromagnetic field (ELF) on the house, taking into account the natural radioactivity inflow, a case-control study was carried out in the City of Havana from 1996 to 2000, on the basis of childhood leukemia incidence. Healthy and sick children were respectively matched by age, school and sex, being all the cases selected from the National Registry of Cancer. The combined variance of ELF electromagnetic field and gamma profile showed contrasting structures in the houses of healthy and of sick children, and it was found that the risk increases with the electromagnetic field intensity. In the studied period and place, the magnetic component of the ELF electromagnetic field would account for approximately 16 % of leukemia incidence as well as the gamma dose equivalent to 3 % of childhood leukemia cases.
Keywords : Low frequency electromagnetic fields; gamma profile; childhood leukemia,; cancer; high-voltage electrical wiring.