OBJECTIVES: To investigate health risk perception as well as to assess the prevalence of self-reported symptoms attributed to electromagnetic fields (EMF) and other environmental exposures in the general population of Switzerland. METHODS: Between May and June 2004, telephone interviews of a representative sample of the Swiss population (n=2048, >14 years old) about: (1) health symptoms attributed to five environmental factors (one of which was EMF), (2) health risk perception related to 12 environmental risk factors (five of which were different EMF sources). RESULTS: We found a prevalence of 5% (95% CI 4-6%) for electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) in our study sample. The most common health complaints among EHS individuals were sleep disorders (43%) and headaches (34%), which were mostly attributed to power lines and mobile phone handsets. In addition, 53 percent (95% CI 51-55%) were worried about adverse health effects from EMF, without attributing their own health symptoms to them. CONCLUSIONS: The large proportion of the population who is concerned or attributes own symptoms to EMF may cause societal conflicts given the ubiquity of EMF in our everyday life.
OBJECTIVES: To investigate health risk perception as well as to assess the prevalence of self-reported symptoms attributed to electromagnetic fields (EMF) and other environmental exposures in the general population of Switzerland. METHODS: Between May and June 2004, telephone interviews of a representative sample of the Swiss population (n=2048, >14 years old) about: (1) health symptoms attributed to five environmental factors (one of which was EMF), (2) health risk perception related to 12 environmental risk factors (five of which were different EMF sources). RESULTS: We found a prevalence of 5% (95% CI 4-6%) for electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) in our study sample. The most common health complaints among EHS individuals were sleep disorders (43%) and headaches (34%), which were mostly attributed to power lines and mobile phone handsets. In addition, 53 percent (95% CI 51-55%) were worried about adverse health effects from EMF, without attributing their own health symptoms to them. CONCLUSIONS: The large proportion of the population who is concerned or attributes own symptoms to EMF may cause societal conflicts given the ubiquity of EMF in our everyday life.
Authors: Bernd Kowall; Jürgen Breckenkamp; Maria Blettner; Brigitte Schlehofer; Joachim Schüz; Gabriele Berg-Beckhoff Journal: Int J Public Health Date: 2011-10-11 Impact factor: 3.380
Authors: Martin Röösli; Patrizia Frei; John Bolte; Georg Neubauer; Elisabeth Cardis; Maria Feychting; Peter Gajsek; Sabine Heinrich; Wout Joseph; Simon Mann; Luc Martens; Evelyn Mohler; Roger C Parslow; Aslak Harbo Poulsen; Katja Radon; Joachim Schüz; György Thuroczy; Jean-François Viel; Martine Vrijheid Journal: Environ Health Date: 2010-05-20 Impact factor: 5.984
Authors: Tayebeh Barsam; Mohammad Reza Monazzam; Ali Akbar Haghdoost; Mohammad Reza Ghotbi; Somayeh Farhang Dehghan Journal: Iranian J Environ Health Sci Eng Date: 2012-11-30