Abstract
Human exposure to extremely low frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MF) at 50 Hz is still a topic of great interest due to the possible correlation with childhood leukaemia. The estimation of induced electric fields in human tissues exposed to electromagnetic fields (EMFs) strictly depends on several variables which include the dielectric properties of the tissues. In this paper, the influence of the conductivity assignment to foetal tissues at different gestational ages on the estimation of the induced electric field due to ELF-MF exposure at 50 Hz has been quantified by means of a stochastic approach using polynomial chaos theory. The range of variation in conductivity values for each foetal tissue at each stage of pregnancy have been defined through three empirical approaches and the induced electric field in each tissue has been modelled through stochastic dosimetry. The main results suggest that both the peak and median induced electric fields in foetal fat vary by more than 8% at all gestational ages. On the contrary, the electric field induced in foetal brain does not seem to be significantly affected by conductivity data changes. The maximum exposure levels, in terms of the induced electric field found in each specific tissue, were found to be significantly below the basic restrictions indicated in the ICNIRP Guidelines, 2010.
Highlights
The potential susceptibility of foetuses to exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMFs), especially during organogenesis, together with their possible higher sensitivity to EMF makes the assessment of foetal exposure levels a topic of high interest [1,2,3]
In this study polynomial chaos (PC) theory has been applied to assess foetal extremely low frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MF) exposure by changing the values assigned to foetal tissue conductivity at 3, 7 and 9 months gestational age (GA), following the PC approach previously described in [16]
At 3 months GA the maximum variation in exposure due to the change in the foetal tissue conductivities, expressed as QCD, of the E50th distribution has been found in bone, where it is close to 15%
Summary
The potential susceptibility of foetuses to exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMFs), especially during organogenesis, together with their possible higher sensitivity to EMF makes the assessment of foetal exposure levels a topic of high interest [1,2,3]. The scientific community [4,5] has lately claimed it is necessary to assess foetal exposure to extremely low frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MFs) at 50 Hz. Epidemiological studies have indicated a possible correlation between exposure to ELF-MF and human cancer, especially childhood leukaemia [6,7]. ELF-MF exposure could be a possible trigger for that disease, whose first insult could arise during prenatal life [8].
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