Paternal work in the power industry: effects on children at delivery - PubMed

Comparative Study

Paternal work in the power industry: effects on children at delivery

S Törnqvist. J Occup Environ Med. 1998 Feb.

Abstract

Although reports on reproductive disturbances among occupational groups of electrical workers have been discussed, few studies have focused explicitly on the children of workers employed in the power industry. Birth outcome and cancer in the offspring of fathers who were exposed to electric and magnetic fields at time of sperm production were studied in two cohorts. In Study 1, male occupation in the power industry was identified in censuses. Study 2 is a prospective cohort study of newly employed power industry workers. Birth data were obtained by record linkage between censuses and several available health registers in Sweden. Multiple births, birth weight, sex, survival, congenital malformations, and cancer have been analyzed with relation to the father's exposure to electric and magnetic fields one year before the child was born. There were six cancer cases among infants in the exposed group (2.4 expected) and six in the unexposed group (3.2 expected) in Study 1. Jointly, the 12 cancer cases found among the infants were more than expected (P = 0.02). However, this total excess may be random. No cancer cases were observed in the prospective study. For chromosomal abnormalities, such as Down's syndrome, one case was observed among infants of exposed fathers and three cases among unexposed fathers in Study 1. In Study 2, no cases were observed. There was a slightly higher proportion of malformation diagnoses among infants of exposed fathers than among infants of unexposed fathers in Study 2, but this could be random (odds ratio = 1.59; 95% Confidence interval 0.43-1.48). No clear-cut effects on infants fathered by men who were exposed to electric and magnetic fields around the time of sperm production could be seen in these two studies.

Similar articles

• Risk of congenital anomalies in children of parents occupationally exposed to low level ionising radiation.

  Green LM, Dodds L, Miller AB, Tomkins DJ, Li J, Escobar M. Green LM, et al. Occup Environ Med. 1997 Sep;54(9):629-35. doi: 10.1136/oem.54.9.629. Occup Environ Med. 1997. PMID: 9423574 Free PMC article.

• Adverse pregnancy outcome and childhood malignancy with reference to paternal welding exposure.

  Bonde JP, Olsen JH, Hansen KS. Bonde JP, et al. Scand J Work Environ Health. 1992 Jun;18(3):169-77. doi: 10.5271/sjweh.1591. Scand J Work Environ Health. 1992. PMID: 1615291

• Validity of mother's report of father's occupation in a study of paternal occupation and congenital malformations.

  Schnitzer PG, Olshan AF, Savitz DA, Erickson JD. Schnitzer PG, et al. Am J Epidemiol. 1995 May 1;141(9):872-7. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a117523. Am J Epidemiol. 1995. PMID: 7717364

• Paternal factors and low birthweight, preterm, and small for gestational age births: a systematic review.

  Shah PS; Knowledge Synthesis Group on determinants of preterm/low birthweight births. Shah PS, et al. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2010 Feb;202(2):103-23. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2009.08.026. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2010. PMID: 20113689 Review.

• A review of epidemiological studies of the health effects of living near or working with electricity generation and transmission equipment.

  Coleman M, Beral V. Coleman M, et al. Int J Epidemiol. 1988 Mar;17(1):1-13. doi: 10.1093/ije/17.1.1. Int J Epidemiol. 1988. PMID: 3290129 Review.

Cited by

• Risk of birth defects by parental occupational exposure to 50 Hz electromagnetic fields: a population based study.

  Blaasaas KG, Tynes T, Irgens A, Lie RT. Blaasaas KG, et al. Occup Environ Med. 2002 Feb;59(2):92-7. doi: 10.1136/oem.59.2.92. Occup Environ Med. 2002. PMID: 11850551 Free PMC article.

• Review of recent epidemiological studies on paternal occupations and birth defects.

  Chia SE, Shi LM. Chia SE, et al. Occup Environ Med. 2002 Mar;59(3):149-55. doi: 10.1136/oem.59.3.149. Occup Environ Med. 2002. PMID: 11886946 Free PMC article. Review.

• Occupational cancer research in the Nordic countries.

  Kjaerheim K. Kjaerheim K. Environ Health Perspect. 1999 May;107 Suppl 2(Suppl 2):233-8. doi: 10.1289/ehp.99107s2233. Environ Health Perspect. 1999. PMID: 10350505 Free PMC article. Review.

• Review of the epidemiologic literature on EMF and Health.

  Ahlbom IC, Cardis E, Green A, Linet M, Savitz D, Swerdlow A; ICNIRP (International Commission for Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection) Standing Committee on Epidemiology. Ahlbom IC, et al. Environ Health Perspect. 2001 Dec;109 Suppl 6(Suppl 6):911-33. doi: 10.1289/ehp.109-1240626. Environ Health Perspect. 2001. PMID: 11744509 Free PMC article. Review.

• Mapping the past, present and future research landscape of paternal effects.

  Rutkowska J, Lagisz M, Bonduriansky R, Nakagawa S. Rutkowska J, et al. BMC Biol. 2020 Nov 27;18(1):183. doi: 10.1186/s12915-020-00892-3. BMC Biol. 2020. PMID: 33246472 Free PMC article.

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

• Full Text Sources

  • Ovid Technologies, Inc.
  • Wolters Kluwer

• Medical

  • MedlinePlus Health Information