Dehghan Naser, Taeb Shahram
Department of Ergonomics, School of Health and Nutrition, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Indian J Occup Environ Med. 2013 Jan;17(1):7-11. doi: 10.4103/0019-5278.116365.
Radar workers are exposed to pulsed high frequency electromagnetic fields. In this study, health effects of these radiations in personnel who routinely work with radar systems are investigated.
The 28-item General Health Questionnaire was used as a self-administered tool for assessment of general mental health and mental distress. One hundred workers occupationally exposed to radar radiations (14-18 GHz) participated in the study. Visual reaction time was recorded with a simple blind computer-assisted-visual reaction time test. To assess the short-term memory, Wechsler Memory Scale-III test was performed.
Twenty to 39% of the radar workers reported different problems such as needing a good tonic, feeling run down and out of sorts, headache, tightness or pressure in the head, insomnia, getting edgy and bad-tempered. Furthermore, 47% of the radar workers reported feeling under strain. In response to this question that if they have been able to enjoy their normal day-to-day activities, 31% responded less than usual. It was also shown that work experience had significant relationships with reaction time and short-term memory indices i.e., forward digit span, reverse digit span, word recognition and paired words.
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to show that occupational exposure to radar microwave radiation leads to changes in somatic symptoms, anxiety and insomnia, social dysfunction, and severe depression. Altogether these results indicate that occupational exposure to radar microwave radiations may be linked to some adverse health effects.
雷达工作人员会暴露于脉冲高频电磁场中。在本研究中，对那些日常操作雷达系统的人员所受这些辐射的健康影响进行了调查。
采用28项一般健康问卷作为自我管理工具，用于评估总体心理健康状况和精神困扰。100名职业性暴露于雷达辐射（14 - 18吉赫兹）的工作人员参与了该研究。通过简单的计算机辅助视觉反应时间测试记录视觉反应时间。为评估短期记忆，进行了韦氏记忆量表第三版测试。
20%至39%的雷达工作人员报告了不同问题，如需要滋补品、感觉疲惫和身体不适、头痛、头部紧绷或有压力、失眠、烦躁易怒和脾气暴躁。此外，47%的雷达工作人员报告感到有压力。在回答是否能够享受日常正常活动这个问题时，31%的人回答比平常少。研究还表明，工作经验与反应时间和短期记忆指标（即顺背数字广度、倒背数字广度、单词识别和配对单词）存在显著关系。
据我们所知，这是第一项表明职业性暴露于雷达微波辐射会导致躯体症状、焦虑和失眠、社会功能障碍以及严重抑郁等变化的研究。总体而言，这些结果表明职业性暴露于雷达微波辐射可能与某些不良健康影响有关。
