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Maternal proximity to extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields and risk of birth defects

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Abstract

Causes of birth defects are unclear, and the association with electromagnetic fields is inconclusive. We assessed the relationship between residential proximity to extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields from power grids and risk of birth defects. We analyzed a population-based sample of 2,164,246 infants born in Quebec, Canada between 1989 and 2016. We geocoded the maternal residential postal code at delivery and computed the distance to the nearest high voltage electrical transmission line or transformer station. We used log-binomial regression to estimate risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association of residential proximity to transmission lines and transformer stations with birth defects, adjusting for maternal and infant characteristics. The prevalence of birth defects within 200 m of a transmission line (579.4 per 10,000 per live births) was only slightly higher compared with distances further away (568.7 per 10,000). A similar trend was seen for transformer stations. Compared with 200 m, a distance of 50 m was not associated with the risk of birth defects for transmission lines (RR 1.00, 95% CI 1.00–1.01) and transformer stations (RR 1.01, 95% CI 1.00–1.03). There was no consistent association when we examined birth defects in different organ systems. We found no compelling evidence that residential proximity to extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields from electrical power grids increases the risk of birth defects. Women residing near electrical grids can be reassured that an effect on the risk of birth defects is unlikely.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Denis Gauvin for information on the electrical infrastructure in Quebec.

Funding

This work was supported by the Public Health Agency of Canada (6D02363004), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (MOP-142277) and the Fonds de recherche du Québec-Santé (34695).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre, Montreal, Canada

    Nathalie Auger & Ga Eun Lee

  2. Institut national de santé publique du Quebec, 190 Cremazie Blvd. East, Montreal, QC, H2P 1E2, Canada

    Nathalie Auger, Ga Eun Lee & Marianne Bilodeau-Bertrand

  3. Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

    Nathalie Auger

  4. Department of Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

    Laura Arbour

  5. Maternal, Child and Youth Health Surveillance, Centre for Surveillance and Applied Research, Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, Canada

    Wei Luo

  6. National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health, British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, Vancouver, Canada

    Tom Kosatsky

Authors
  1. Nathalie Auger
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  2. Laura Arbour
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  3. Wei Luo
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  4. Ga Eun Lee
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  5. Marianne Bilodeau-Bertrand
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  6. Tom Kosatsky
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Correspondence to Nathalie Auger.

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The University of Montreal Hospital Centre’s Institutional Review Board waived the need for ethical review as the data were de-identified. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. For this type of study formal consent is not required.

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Auger, N., Arbour, L., Luo, W. et al. Maternal proximity to extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields and risk of birth defects. Eur J Epidemiol 34, 689–697 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-019-00518-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-019-00518-1

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