Effect of extremely low frequency electromagnetic field exposure on sleep quality in high voltage substations
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
IRANIAN JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCE & ENGINEERING
Open Access
Effect of extremely low frequency electromagnetic field exposure on sleep quality in high voltage substations Tayebeh Barsam1, Mohammad Reza Monazzam2*, Ali Akbar Haghdoost3, Mohammad Reza Ghotbi1 and Somayeh Farhang Dehghan4
Abstract This study aims to investigate the effect of extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields exposure on sleep quality in high voltage substations (132, 230 and 400 KV) in Kerman city and the suburbs. For this purpose, the electric field intensity and magnetic flux density were measured in different parts of substations, and then the occupational exposure was estimated by averaging electric field intensity and magnetic flux density in a shift work. The cases comprised 67 workers who had been exposed to electromagnetic fields in age range of 24–57 and the controls were 110 persons the age ranged 24–50 years. Sleep quality of both groups was evaluated by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index questionnaire (PSQI). Finally, these data were subjected to statistical analysis. The results indicated that 90.5% of cases and 85.3% of controls had the poor quality sleep according to PSQI (P-value=0.615). Total sleep quality score mean for the case and control groups were 10.22 ± 3.4 and 9.74 ± 3.62 (P-value=0.415) ,respectively. Meantime to fall asleep for cases(35.68 ± 26.25 min) was significantly higher than for controls (28.89 ± 20.18 min) (P-value=0.002). Cases had average sleep duration of 5.49 ± 1.31 hours, which was lower ascompared with control subjects (5.90 ± 1.67hours). Although there was a higher percentage for the case group with poor sleep quality than the control group, but no statistically significant difference was observed. Keywords: Electric and magnetic field, Extremely low-frequency, Sleep quality, Pittsburgh sleep quality index
Introduction Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) are produced by production, transmission, and use of electrical devices such as power lines, electrical wiring, transformers and electrical equipments, so each person in the society can be exposed to them [1]. Extremely low frequency (ELF) fields includes alternating current (AC) fields and other electromagnetic, and non-ionizing radiation from 3Hz to 300Hz [2]. Electric power substations, transmission lines, distribution lines, industrial devices as well as electric appliances are some of the commonly known sources of ELF magnetic fields in the environment. Since many substations are surrounded by residential or commercial areas, people living nearthemand alsopersonnel working in the substations * Correspondence: [email protected] 2 Department of Occupational Health, School of Public Health and Center for Air Pollution Research (CAPR), Institute for Environmental Research (IER), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
may be exposed to high ELF magnetic fields [3]. As a result, it is necessary to assess personal exposure to ELF magnet
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