Case-cohort analysis of brain cancer and leukemia in electric utility workers using a refined magnetic field job-exposure matrix

David A. Savitz*, Jianwen Cai, Edwin Van Wijngaarden, Dana Loomis, Gary Mihlan, Vincent Dufort, Robert C. Kleckner, Leena Nylander-French, Hans Kromhout, Haibo Zhou

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

    Abstract

    Background: The potential association between occupational electric and magnetic field exposure and cancer is well documented in the literature, but there is uncertainty regarding a causal relation. Methods: Using data from a completed cohort study, we sought to refine the job-exposure matrix in a case-cohort analysis by regrouping jobs into more homogeneous groups, but without making additional measurements. From the original cohort, we selected the 164 men who died of leukemia, 145 men who died of brain cancer, and a random subcohort of 800 men (0.6% of the cohort). Erroneous job assignments were corrected and job groups were subdivided based on differences in work environments or tasks performed. Results: Magnetic field exposure remained unrelated to leukemia mortality and positively associated with brain cancer mortality based on both cumulative and average magnetic field indices. Although not monotonic across the middle intervals, increased risk of brain cancer was found in relation to career exposure, with risk ratios of 1.8 (95% CI= 0.7-4.7) and 2.5 (95% CI = 1.0-6.3) in the uppermost categories for cumulative and average exposure, stronger for exposure 2-10 years past. Conclusion: Improvements in exposure assignment based only on reassignment of job titles to occupational categories had little impact on the measured associations of magnetic fields with leukemia or brain cancer. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)417-425
    Number of pages9
    JournalAmerican Journal of Industrial Medicine
    Volume38
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 14 Sept 2000

    Keywords

    • Brain tumors
    • Electromagnetic fields
    • Exposure assessment
    • Leukemia

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