OCCUPATIONAL ELECTRIC AND MAGNETIC-FIELD EXPOSURE AND BRAIN CANCER - A METAANALYSIS

We conducted a meta-analysis to acquire an understanding of the associ ation between central nervous system cancer and occupational exposure to electric and magnetic fields. To explore sources of heterogeneity, study characteristics were scored and examined using regression analys is, An inverse-variance weighted pooling leads to a small overall incr ease in relative risk (10 to 20%) for the broad group of electrical oc cupations, One of the largest differences was lower relative risk for Scandinavian studies, Lower relative risks were also reported in cohor t- and incidence-based studies, Findings were not sensitive to assumpt ions, including unpublished data, influence of individual studies, wei ghting schemes, and modeling. Whereas most studies present a small ele vation in risk, there is considerable heterogeneity among the results.