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&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:

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@umanitoba.ca.

Thanks,

Elizabeth

Elizabeth Stregger

Library Assistant, MHIKNET Library Services
Neil John Maclean Health Sciences Library
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