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Subjective complaints of people living near mobile phone base stations in Poland

International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health volume 25, pages 31–40 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

Objectives

The aim of our study was to assess the health conditions and subjective symptoms of the inhabitants living in the base stations vicinity and to analyse the relationship between the complaints and level of exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF).

Materials and Methods

Our study was performed in housing estates located in five regions of Łódź. The electric field measurements were performed in the buildings located closest to the azimuth of the antennas. Respondents were selected by trained interviewers using an uniform procedure. The number of the households to be examined was set at a minimum of 420. The questionnaire contained: demographic data, occupational and environmental exposure to EMF, health condition, subjective complaints. Results were adjusted for confounders (age, gender, EMF at the workplace and EMF emitted by household equipment) using multiple regression model.

Results

181 men and 319 women from 500 households were examined. Electric field above 0.8 V/m was recorded in 12% of flats. There was no significant correlation between electric field strength and the distance of examined flats from the base stations. To make possible comparison with relevant literature, we analysed also the frequency of the reported symptoms vs. the distance. Headache was declared by 57% people, most frequently (36.4%) living 100–150 m away from the base station compared to people living at longer distances (p = 0.013). 24.4% subjects, mostly living at a distance above 150 m, declared impaired memory. Difference was statistically significant in comparison with people living at other distances (p = 0.004).

Conclusions

The explanation why we did not find any correlation between the electric field strength and frequency of subjective symptoms but found a correlation between subjective symptoms and distance from base station needs further studies. Maybe new metrics of exposure assessment should be adopted for this purpose.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Work Physiology and Ergonomics, Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Łódź, Poland

    Alicja Bortkiewicz, Elżbieta Gadzicka & Agata Szyjkowska

  2. Department of Radiological Protection, Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Łódź, Poland

    Piotr Politański, Paweł Mamrot & Marek Zmyślony

  3. Department of Psychological Research Methodology and Statistics, University of Łódź, Łódź, Poland

    Wiesław Szymczak

  4. Department of Work Physiology and Ergonomics, Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, św. Teresy 8, 91-348, Łódź, Poland

    Alicja Bortkiewicz

Authors
  1. Alicja Bortkiewicz
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  2. Elżbieta Gadzicka
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  3. Agata Szyjkowska
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  4. Piotr Politański
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  5. Paweł Mamrot
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  6. Wiesław Szymczak
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  7. Marek Zmyślony
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alicja Bortkiewicz.

Additional information

This study was supported by the National Committee for Scientific Research (KBN) in Poland

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Bortkiewicz, A., Gadzicka, E., Szyjkowska, A. et al. Subjective complaints of people living near mobile phone base stations in Poland. IJOMEH 25, 31–40 (2012). https://doi.org/10.2478/s13382-012-0007-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s13382-012-0007-9

Key words

  • Base stations
  • Electromagnetic fields
  • Health effects
  • Subjective symptoms