Most other epidemiological studies have looked at whether magnetic
fields cause[link to “sci childhoodcancer”] childhood
leukaemia. This new study from 2006 looks instead at whether magnetic
fields affect survival from childhood leukaemia. It does suggest
that higher fields are associated with poorer survival, but because
of small numbers and poor participation rates this can only be a
suggestion.
Br J Cancer. 2006 Jan 16;94(1):161-4.
Magnetic field exposure and long-term survival among
children with leukaemia.
Foliart DE, Pollock BH, Mezei G, Iriye R, Silva JM, Ebi KL, Kheifets
L, Link MP, Kavet R.
Public Health Institute, 555 12th St, Oakland, CA 94607, USA. dfoliart@hospice.org
We examined the association between magnetic field (MF) exposure
and survival among children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL)
treated at 51 Pediatric Oncology Group centres between 1996 and
2001. Of 1672 potentially eligible children under treatment, 482
(29%) participated and personal 24-h MF measurements were obtained
from 412 participants. A total of 386 children with ALL and 361
with B-precursor ALL were included in the analysis of event-free
survival (time from diagnosis to first treatment failure, relapse,
secondary malignancy, or death) and overall survival. After adjustment
for risk group and socioeconomic status, the event-free survival
hazard ratio (HR) for children with measurements >/=0.3 muT was
1.9 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.8, 4.9), compared to <0.1
muT. For survival, elevated HRs were found for children exposed
to >/=0.3 muT (multivariate HR=4.5, 95% CI 1.5-13.8) but based
on only four deaths among 19 children. While risk was increased
among children with exposures above 0.3 muT, the small numbers limited
inferences for this finding.
