Environmental Risk Assessment and Case Surveillance Division, Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, Health Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0L2. pvillene@uottawa.ca
The relationship between occupational exposure to magnetic fields and brain cancer in men was investigated using population-based case-control data collected in eight Canadian provinces. Emphasis was placed on examining the variations in risk across different histological types.
A list of occupations was compiled for 543 cases and 543 controls that were individually matched by age. Occupations were categorized according to their average magnetic field exposure through blinded expert review ( or = 0.6 microT). In total, 133 cases (14%) and 123 controls (12%) were estimated to have at least one occupation whereby magnetic field exposures exceeded 0.3 microT. Odds ratios (OR) were generated using conditional logistic regression, and were adjusted for suspected occupational risk factors for brain cancer.
A non-significantly increased risk of brain cancer was observed among men who had ever held a job with an average magnetic field exposure >0.6 microT relative to those with exposures