Research article

Ecological study on the penetration of induction heating cookers and birth outcomes in Japan

  • Received: 27 March 2020 Accepted: 28 May 2020 Published: 05 June 2020
  • In recent years, equipment that generates intermediate-frequency electromagnetic fields (IF-EMFs) has become increasingly prevalent, and the influence of IF-EMFs on human health is thus attracting increasing attention. The present study was conducted with the aim of analyzing whether there is a relationship between the penetration of induction heating cookers and birth outcomes using an ecological study design at the prefectural level. We created data sets for all 47 prefectures in Japan using previously published statistics. Spontaneous fetal death rate, fetal death rate after 22 weeks of pregnancy, perinatal mortality rate, and proportion of newborns weighing less than 2500 g were used as birth outcomes in correlation analysis. A weak positive association was observed between the penetration of induction heating cookers and the fetal death rate after the 22nd week of pregnancy (r = 0.27, p = 0.07), but it was not statistically significant. In addition, a weak negative association was observed between the penetration of induction heating cookers and the spontaneous fetal death rate (r = −0.27, p = 0.07), but it was not statistically significant. In the present ecological study, no statistically significant association were shown between the penetration of induction heating cookers and birth outcomes. To demonstrate further the safety of induction heating cooker use, observations in epidemiological studies of other designs should be considered.

    Citation: Yasuto Sato, Kosuke Kiyohara, Sachiko Takehara, Noriko Kojimahara. Ecological study on the penetration of induction heating cookers and birth outcomes in Japan[J]. AIMS Public Health, 2020, 7(2): 336-343. doi: 10.3934/publichealth.2020028

    Related Papers:

  • In recent years, equipment that generates intermediate-frequency electromagnetic fields (IF-EMFs) has become increasingly prevalent, and the influence of IF-EMFs on human health is thus attracting increasing attention. The present study was conducted with the aim of analyzing whether there is a relationship between the penetration of induction heating cookers and birth outcomes using an ecological study design at the prefectural level. We created data sets for all 47 prefectures in Japan using previously published statistics. Spontaneous fetal death rate, fetal death rate after 22 weeks of pregnancy, perinatal mortality rate, and proportion of newborns weighing less than 2500 g were used as birth outcomes in correlation analysis. A weak positive association was observed between the penetration of induction heating cookers and the fetal death rate after the 22nd week of pregnancy (r = 0.27, p = 0.07), but it was not statistically significant. In addition, a weak negative association was observed between the penetration of induction heating cookers and the spontaneous fetal death rate (r = −0.27, p = 0.07), but it was not statistically significant. In the present ecological study, no statistically significant association were shown between the penetration of induction heating cookers and birth outcomes. To demonstrate further the safety of induction heating cooker use, observations in epidemiological studies of other designs should be considered.



    加载中

    Acknowledgments



    This study was supported by a Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications grant for research on the biological electromagnetic environment (No. 0155–0013). The content of the present study is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. All data used in the present study are publicly available from the sources indicated.

    Conflict of interest



    All authors declare no conflicts of interest in this paper.

    [1] Litvak E, Foster KR, Repacholi MH (2002) Health and safety implications of exposure to electromagnetic fields in the frequency range 300 Hz to 10 MHz. Bioelectromagnetics 23: 68-82. doi: 10.1002/bem.99
    [2] World Health Organization (2005) Electromagnetic Fields & Public Health: Intermediate Frequencies (IF), Information Sheet.Available from: http://www.who.int/peh-emf/publications/facts/intmedfrequencies/en/.
    [3] Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) (2015) Potential Health Effects of Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields.Available from: https://ec.europa.eu/health/scientific_committees/emerging/docs/scenihr_o_041.pdf.
    [4] Christ A, Guldimann R, Bühlmann B, et al. (2012) Exposure of the human body to professional and domestic induction cooktops compared to the basic restrictions. Bioelectromagnetics 33: 695-705. doi: 10.1002/bem.21739
    [5] Aerts S, Calderon C, Valič B, et al. (2017) Measurements of intermediate-frequency electric and magnetic fields in households. Environ Res 154: 160-170. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2017.01.001
    [6] The Japan Electrical Manufacturers' Association (2020) Statistical Data.Available from: https://www.jema-net.or.jp/English/.
    [7] Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan (2020) National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure.Available from: http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/zensho/index.html.
    [8] Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan (2020) Vital Statistics.Available from: http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/database/db-hw/vs01.html.
    [9] Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan (2020) Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions.Available from: http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/database/db-hss/cslc-index.html.
    [10] Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan (2020) Survey of Physicians, Dentists and Pharmacists.Available from: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/database/db-hss/spdp.html.
    [11] Cabinet Office of Japan (2020) Annual Report on National Accounts.Available from: https://www.esri.cao.go.jp/en/sna/data/kakuhou/files/kako_top.html.
    [12] Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan (2020) Population Census.Available from: http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/kokusei/index.html.
    [13] Fretts RC (2005) Etiology and prevention of stillbirth. Am J Obstet Gynecol 193: 1923-1935. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2005.03.074
    [14] Eskenazi B, Prehn AW, Christianson RE (1995) Passive and active maternal smoking as measured by serum cotinine: The effect on birthweight. Am J Public Health 85: 395-398. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.85.3.395
    [15] Pereira PP, Da Mata FA, Figueiredo AC, et al. (2017) Maternal active smoking during pregnancy and low birth weight in the Americas: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Nicotine Tob Res 19: 497-505. doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntw228
    [16] Cnattingius S, Forman MR, Berendes HW, et al. (1992) Delayed childbearing and risk of adverse perinatal outcome. A population-based study. JAMA 268: 886-890. doi: 10.1001/jama.1992.03490070068044
    [17] Tough SC, Newburn-Cook C, Johnston DW, et al. (2002) Delayed childbearing and its impact on population rate changes in lower birth weight, multiple birth, and preterm delivery. Pediatrics 109: 399-403. doi: 10.1542/peds.109.3.399
    [18] Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (2020) Annual Health, Labour and Welfare Report.Available from: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/wp/index.html.
  • Reader Comments
  • © 2020 the Author(s), licensee AIMS Press. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
通讯作者: 陈斌, bchen63@163.com
  • 1. 

    沈阳化工大学材料科学与工程学院 沈阳 110142

  1. 本站搜索
  2. 百度学术搜索
  3. 万方数据库搜索
  4. CNKI搜索

Metrics

Article views(3792) PDF downloads(221) Cited by(4)

Article outline

Figures and Tables

Tables(4)

/

DownLoad:  Full-Size Img  PowerPoint
Return
Return

Catalog