STUDIO CHE LEGA LA QUALITÀ DEL SONNO IN SOGGETTI ESPOSTI ALLE BASSE FREQUENZE
OCCUPATIONAL ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD EXPOSURES
ASSOCIATED WITH SLEEP QUALITY: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY.
Liu H1, Chen G2, Pan Y1, Chen Z1, Jin W1, Sun C2, Chen C2, Dong X3, Chen K4, Xu Z2, Zhang S1, Yu Y1.
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Exposure to electromagnetic field (EMF) emitted by mobile phone
and other machineries concerns half the world's population and raises the
problem of their impact on human health. The present study aims to explore the
effects of electromagnetic field exposures on sleep quality and sleep duration
among workers from electric power plant.
METHODS:
A cross-sectional study was conducted in an electric power plant
of Zhejiang Province, China. A total of 854 participants were included in the
final analysis. The detailed information of participants was obtained by
trained investigators using a structured questionnaire, which including
socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle variables, sleep variables and
electromagnetic exposures. Physical examination and venous blood collection
were also carried out for every study subject.
RESULTS:
After grouping daily occupational electromagnetic exposure into
three categories, subjects with long daily exposure time had a significantly
higher risk of poor sleep quality in comparison to those with short daily
exposure time. The adjusted odds ratios were 1.68 (95%CI: 1.18, 2.39) and 1.57
(95%CI: 1.10, 2.24) across tertiles. Additionally, among the subjects with
long-term occupational exposure, the longer daily occupational exposure time
apparently increased the risk of poor sleep quality (OR (95%CI): 2.12 (1.23∼3.66) in the second
tertile; 1.83 (1.07∼3.15) in the third tertile). There was no significant association
of long-term occupational exposure duration, monthly electric fee or years of
mobile-phone use with sleep quality or sleep duration.
CONCLUSIONS:
The findings showed that daily occupational EMF exposure was
positively associated with poor sleep quality. It implies EMF exposure may
damage human sleep quality rather than sleep duration.
