Why the study?
Does occupational exposure to 50-Hz magnetic fields cause cardiac rhythm disorders?
Does occupational exposure to 50-Hz magnetic fields cause cardiac rhythm disorders?
This case report suggests a potential link between long-term occupational exposure to extremely low frequency magnetic fields and the development of bradycardia and ventricular extrasystoles.
In an office room located above the building's transformer station, a durable slowing of heart rate (48 bpm) and frequent ventricular extra-systoles were observed in a woman, 47 years old, a few months after she changed the location of her office. Her prior baseline heart rate was 80 bpm. All the cardiological investigations were normal. ELF electric field was low: 4–5 V/m. Average ELF magnetic flux density at the workplace was 23 µT with peaks to 31.4µT. The worker had a long-term exposure period (40 h/ week for 22 months). The slowing phenomenon decreased after termination of the exposure (60 bpm). The ventricular extrasystoles remained l year after the end of the exposure but were fewer and no longer polymorphous. The criteria of a possible link between the appearance of cardiac rhythm disorders and the ELF magnetic exposure are analyzed. With a review of the literature, this clinical case seems to satisfy to some degree the biological plausibility, the temporal relationship, and the experimental evidence.
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Déoux et al. (1997) studied this question.
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