Hello,
The latest issue of What Your Patient Reads, "Does prenatal exposure to
magnetic fields cause asthma?" is available at
http://myuminfo.umanitoba.ca/index.asp?sec=1599
<http://myuminfo.umanitoba.ca/index.asp?sec=1599&too=100&eve=8&dat=8/24/2011
&npa=26510> &too=100&eve=8&dat=8/24/2011&npa=26510 and attached in PDF
format. Written by health sciences librarians, What Your Patient Reads
informs health care providers of health news of interest to patients and
offers evidence-based articles to support or refute news in the media.
Summary:
<http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/GoosHanchen.gif> The
Globe and Mail recently reported on a new study in the Archives of
Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine linking asthma in children to the
magnetic-field exposure of their mothers during pregnancy. Researchers led
by Dr. De-Kun Li at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland,
CA followed pregnant women and their children for up to 13 years. These
pregnant women wore meters to measure their daily exposure to magnetic
fields (such as those from microwaves, computers, and power lines). The
monitors did not measure electric-field exposure. Of the 626 children born
to these women, 130 (20%) were diagnosed with asthma. Women with the highest
levels of magnetic-field exposure had a 3.5-fold increased risk of having a
child later diagnosed with asthma than women with lower levels of exposure.
The study also found that women with asthma or pregnant with their first
child (both risk factors for asthma in children) were more likely to have
children with asthma if they were also exposed to high levels of
magnetic-field exposure. Dr. Li advises to avoid electromagnetic fields as
much as possible, especially during pregnancy. The Globe and Mail article
points out that many health experts, including Health Canada and the World
Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer, do not
agree with the suggested risks of electromagnetic field exposure. Dr. Warren
Foster, a professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at
McMaster University, downplays the significance of Dr. Li's findings and
suggests other factors may have influenced the results.
If you would like to read the full story reported in the Globe and Mail, the
referenced study, and/or the listed additional references, please contact us
at mhiknet(a)umanitoba.ca.
Thanks,
Elizabeth
Elizabeth Stregger
Library Assistant, MHIKNET Library Services
Neil John Maclean Health Sciences Library
770 Bannatyne Avenue
Winnipeg, MB R3E 0W3
Tel. 204-789-3804
Tel. 1-877-789-3804
Fax: 204-789-3923
mhiknet(a)umanitoba.ca
http://mhiknet.lib.umanitoba.ca <http://mhiknet.lib.umanitoba.ca/>