Estimated all-day and evening whole-brain radiofrequency electromagnetic fields doses, and sleep in preadolescents

Alba Cabré-Riera, Luuk van Wel, Ilaria Liorni, M. Elisabeth Koopman-Verhoeff, Liher Imaz, Jesús Ibarluzea, Anke Huss, Joe Wiart, Roel Vermeulen, Wout Joseph, Myles Capstick, Martine Vrijheid, Elisabeth Cardis, Martin Röösli, Marloes Eeftens, Arno Thielens, Henning Tiemeier, Mònica Guxens*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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Abstract

Objective: To investigate the association of estimated all-day and evening whole-brain radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) doses with sleep disturbances and objective sleep measures in preadolescents. Methods: We included preadolescents aged 9–12 years from two population-based birth cohorts, the Dutch Generation R Study (n = 974) and the Spanish INfancia y Medio Ambiente Project (n = 868). All-day and evening overall whole-brain RF-EMF doses (mJ/kg/day) were estimated for several RF-EMF sources including mobile and Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) phone calls (named phone calls), other mobile phone uses, tablet use, laptop use (named screen activities), and far-field sources. We also estimated all-day and evening whole-brain RF-EMF doses in these three groups separately (i.e. phone calls, screen activities, and far-field). The Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children was completed by mothers to assess sleep disturbances. Wrist accelerometers together with sleep diaries were used to measure sleep characteristics objectively for 7 consecutive days. Results: All-day whole-brain RF-EMF doses were not associated with self-reported sleep disturbances and objective sleep measures. Regarding evening doses, preadolescents with high evening whole-brain RF-EMF dose from phone calls had a shorter total sleep time compared to preadolescents with zero evening whole-brain RF-EMF dose from phone calls [-11.9 min (95%CI -21.2; −2.5)]. Conclusions: Our findings suggest the evening as a potentially relevant window of RF-EMF exposure for sleep. However, we cannot exclude that observed associations are due to the activities or reasons motivating the phone calls rather than the RF-EMF exposure itself or due to chance finding.

Original languageEnglish
Article number112291
JournalEnvironmental Research
Volume204
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
INMA-Sabadell: This study was funded by grants from Instituto de Salud Carlos III ( Red INMA G03/176 ; CB06/02/0041 ; PI041436 ; PI081151 incl. FEDER funds; PI12/01890 incl. FEDER funds; CP13/00054 incl. FEDER funds, MS13/00054 , CPII18/00018 ; PI17/01340 incl. FEDER funds), CIBERESP, Generalitat de Catalunya- CIRIT 1999SGR 00241 , Generalitat de Catalunya- AGAUR ( 2009 SGR 501 , 2014 SGR 822 ), Fundació La Marató de TV3 (090430 ), Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness ( SAF2012-32991 incl. FEDER funds), French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety ( EST-2016 RF-21 , EST/2013/2/22 ), EU Commission ( 261357 , 308333 , 603794 and 634453 ).We also acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and State Research Agency through the “Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa 2019–2023” Program ( CEX2018-000806-S ), and support from the Generalitat de Catalunya through the CERCA Program”.

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the European Union Seventh Framework Program ( FP7/2007–2013 No. 603794 GERoNiMO project ). Arno Thielens is a postdoctoral fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) under grant agreement no. 12U1417N .

Funding Information:
INMA-Gipuzkoa: This study was funded by grants from Instituto de Salud Carlos III ( FIS-PI13/02187 ), CIBERESP, Department of Health of the Basque Government ( 2015111065 ), and the Provincial Government of Gipuzkoa ( DFG15/221 ) and annual agreements with the municipalities of the study area (Zumarraga, Urretxu, Legazpi, Azkoitia y Azpeitia y Beasain).

Funding Information:
The Generation R Study: The general design of the Generation R Study is supported by the Erasmus Medical Center-Rotterdam, the Erasmus University Rotterdam , the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development, the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, and the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, and the Stichting Trombosedienst and Artsenlaboratorium Rijnmond. This study was funded by a grantfromthe Netherlands organization for Health Research and Development ( 85500036 ). Henning Tiemeier was supported by a grant of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research ( NWO /ZonMW grant 016.VICI.170.200 ) and of Erasmus Medical Center Efficiency Grant ( MRC-2013- 169 ).

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the European Union Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007?2013 No. 603794 GERoNiMO project). Arno Thielens is a postdoctoral fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) under grant agreement no. 12U1417N.INMA-Sabadell: This study was funded by grants from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Red INMA G03/176; CB06/02/0041; PI041436; PI081151 incl. FEDER funds; PI12/01890 incl. FEDER funds; CP13/00054 incl. FEDER funds, MS13/00054, CPII18/00018; PI17/01340 incl. FEDER funds), CIBERESP, Generalitat de Catalunya-CIRIT 1999SGR 00241, Generalitat de Catalunya-AGAUR (2009 SGR 501, 2014 SGR 822), Fundaci? La Marat? de TV3 (090430), Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (SAF2012-32991 incl. FEDER funds), French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (EST-2016 RF-21, EST/2013/2/22), EU Commission (261357, 308333, 603794 and 634453).We also acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and State Research Agency through the ?Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa 2019?2023? Program (CEX2018-000806-S), and support from the Generalitat de Catalunya through the CERCA Program?.INMA-Gipuzkoa: This study was funded by grants from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (FIS-PI13/02187), CIBERESP, Department of Health of the Basque Government (2015111065), and the Provincial Government of Gipuzkoa (DFG15/221) and annual agreements with the municipalities of the study area (Zumarraga, Urretxu, Legazpi, Azkoitia y Azpeitia y Beasain).The Generation R Study: The general design of the Generation R Study is supported by the Erasmus Medical Center-Rotterdam, the Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development, the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, and the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, and the Stichting Trombosedienst and Artsenlaboratorium Rijnmond. This study was funded by a grantfromthe Netherlands organization for Health Research and Development (85500036). Henning Tiemeier was supported by a grant of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO/ZonMW grant 016.VICI.170.200) and of Erasmus Medical Center Efficiency Grant (MRC-2013- 169).

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