pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Representative survey on idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields in Taiwan and comparison with the international literature - PubMed

  • ️Mon Jan 01 2018

Review

Representative survey on idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields in Taiwan and comparison with the international literature

Po-Chang Huang et al. Environ Health. 2018.

Abstract

Background: Electromagnetic hypersensitivity refers to health effects attributed to electromagnetic fields (EMF) exposure and has been formally named "idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields" (IEI-EMF) by the World Health Organization. Because of the growing use of cell phones, IEI-EMF has become a global public health concern. A survey in 2007 in Taiwan showed that the prevalence rate of IEI-EMF was 13.3%, which is higher than rates in studies conducted previously. The survey also found that the rate was higher in women.

Methods: To evaluate whether the prevalence rate of IEI-EMF is increasing and to verify the higher risk in women, we conducted a nationwide questionnaire survey using the same methods as the 2007 survey to assess the change in the prevalence rate of IEI-EMF in Taiwan. We also conducted a review of the literature and a meta-analysis to evaluate the changes in the prevalence rate around the world.

Results: On the basis of the representative sample of 3303 participants, we found that the prevalence rate of IEI-EMF in Taiwan declined from 13.3% to 4.6% over a period of 5 years. The literature review also found the prevalence rates in other countries to be decreasing, instead of increasing as predicted previously. The meta-analysis of the data from the literature showed that women are more likely to have IEI-EMF than men, with an odds ratio of 1.19 (95% confidence interval: 1.01-1.40).

Conclusions: We found the prevalence rate of IEI-EMF has been declining, instead of increasing as predicted previously. Women are more likely to report having IEI-EMF than men. Further studies to explore the causes leading to the declines may help the public, scientific community, and government deal with idiopathic intolerance to other environmental exposures.

Keywords: Base station; Electro hypersensitivity; Electromagnetic field; Idiopathic environmental intolerance; Mobile phone; Prevalence.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval

The study protocol was reviewed and approved by a Grant Review Committee of the Environmental Protection Administration of the Taiwan government, and participation of human subjects did not occur until after informed consent was obtained.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1

Flow chart of the systematic literature review

Fig. 2
Fig. 2

Prevalence rates (%) of idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields around the world. The 1994 data from Austria were reported by Schröttner and Leitgeb (2008), but the actual raw data are unavailable from the references cited in the paper [19]. Therefore, we presented the 2% prevalence rate with a hollow circle

Fig. 3
Fig. 3

Forest plot of prevalence rates of idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields around the world. I2 = 99.4%, p < 0.01 for heterogeneous test. The years are the years of investigation

Fig. 4
Fig. 4

Forest plot of prevalence rates of idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields in men and women. I2 = 69.0%, p < 0.01 for heterogeneous test. The years are the years of investigation

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Rubin GJ, Das Munshi J, Wessely S. A systematic review of treatments for electromagnetic hypersensitivity. Psychother Psychosom. 2006;75:12–18. doi: 10.1159/000089222. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Baliatsas C, Van Kamp I, Lebret E, Rubin GJ. Idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields (IEI-EMF): a systematic review of identifying criteria. BMC Public Health. 2012;12:643. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-12-643. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Johansson O. Electrohypersensitivity: a functional impairment due to an inaccessible environment. Rev Environ Health. 2015;30:311–321. doi: 10.1515/reveh-2015-0018. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Genuis SJ, Lipp CT. Electromagnetic hypersensitivity: fact or fiction? Sci Total Environ. 2012;414:103–112. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.11.008. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hillert L. Report on characterization, diagnosis and treatment. WHO workshop on electrical hypersensitivity. 2004.

Publication types

MeSH terms