Determinants of power-frequency magnetic fields in residences located awayfrom overhead power lines

The Wertheimer-Leeper wire code, originally developed as a surrogate for ma gnetic-field exposure, has been associated with childhood leukemia in sever al epidemiologic investigations. However, these and other studies indicate that most between-residence variability in measured magnetic fields remains unexplained by wire codes. To better understand this remaining variability , engineering and demographic data were examined for 333 underground (UG) a nd very-low current configuration (VLCC) single-family or duplex residences , selected from a database of nearly 1000 residences specifically because t heir magnetic fields are most likely affected negligibly by overhead power lines. Using linear regression techniques, four factors predictive of the l og-transformed residential field were identified: the square-root of the 24 -h average net service drop current (this current is equivalent to the curr ent in the grounding system), the log of the number of service drops on the same secondary serving the residence, residence age (four categories), and area type (rural, suburban, or urban). Complete data on ground current and service drops, the two factors with the strongest individual relationships to measured fields, were available for only half of the residences in the sample. However, these data were determined to be "missing at random" accor ding to established statistical criteria. The full-sample or "composite" mo dels thus relied on a method similar to regression imputation, accounting f or missing data with binary dummy variables. When applied to the samples fr om which they were derived, these models accounted for 25% of the variance of the log-spot-measured magnetic field values in the full sample, while mo dels that considered only those residences with complete data (n = 167) exp lained about 35%. The model validated well against a sample of 201 ordinary low current configuration (OLCC) homes selected from the same database. (C ) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.