a Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences , University of Eastern Finland , Kuopio , Finland.
b Research and Service Centre of Occupational Safety, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health , Helsinki , Finland.
Int J Radiat Biol. 2018 Oct;94(10):902-908. doi: 10.1080/09553002.2018.1439197. Epub 2018 Feb 26.
We investigated the feasibility of a large-scale epidemiological study on reproductive effects of intermediate frequency (IF) magnetic field (MF) exposure among cashiers working near electronic article surveillance (EAS) systems.
The study cohort included 4157 women who had worked as cashiers in supermarkets with EAS devices (considered as exposed) or grocery stores without EAS devices (considered as unexposed) between 2008 and 2015. 536 births and 38 miscarriages occurred among these women during the study period, based on information from nationwide health registries. Measurements were also performed to characterize the MF exposure of cashiers.
Cashiers were found to be exposed to 8.2 MHz MFs only when passing by the gates at short distance. Static fields of about 0.1 mT were observed at cashier's seat. Extremely low frequency MFs were higher at stores without EAS devices. No differences on the risk of miscarriage, reduced birth weight or preterm birth were observed between cashiers in different store types.
Any further studies should attempt to include study subjects working near EAS systems that produce stronger IF MFs at kHz frequencies. Exposure to ELF MFs should be assessed as a possible confounding factor.
我们研究了在收银员工作在电子商品监视（EAS）系统附近的中频（IF）磁场（MF）暴露对生殖影响的大规模流行病学研究的可行性。
该研究队列包括 4157 名女性，她们于 2008 年至 2015 年间在装有 EAS 设备的超市（视为暴露组）或无 EAS 设备的杂货店（视为非暴露组）担任收银员。根据全国健康登记处的信息，这些女性中有 536 例分娩和 38 例流产。还对收银员的 MF 暴露进行了测量。
只有当收银员在短距离路过时，他们才会接触到 8.2MHz 的 MF。在收银员座位处观察到约 0.1mT 的静态磁场。在没有 EAS 设备的商店中，极低频 MF 更高。在不同商店类型的收银员中，流产、出生体重减轻或早产的风险没有差异。
任何进一步的研究都应尝试纳入在产生更高 kHz 中频 MF 的 EAS 系统附近工作的研究对象。ELF MF 的暴露应被评估为可能的混杂因素。
