Do people with idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields display physiological effects when exposed to electromagnetic fields? A systematic review of provocation studies

Abstract

Idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields (IEI-EMF) is a controversial illness in which people report symptoms that they believe are triggered by exposure to EMF. Double-blind experiments have found no association between the presence of EMF and self-reported outcomes in people with IEI-EMF. No systematic review has assessed whether EMF exposure triggers physiological or cognitive changes in this group. Using a systematic literature search, we identified 29 single or double-blind experiments in which participants with IEI-EMF were exposed to different EMF levels and in which objectively measured outcomes were assessed. Five studies identified significant effects of exposure such as reduced heart rate and blood pressure, altered pupillary light reflex, reduced visual attention and perception, improved spatial memory, movement away from an EMF source during sleep and altered EEG during sleep. In most cases, these were isolated results that other studies failed to replicate. For the sleep EEG findings, the results reflected similar changes in the IEI-EMF participants and a non-IEI-EMF control group. At present, there is no reliable evidence to suggest that people with IEI-EMF experience unusual physiological reactions as a result of exposure to EMF. This supports suggestions that EMF is not the main cause of their ill health.

The risk of subjective symptoms in mobile phone users in Poland – An epidemiological study

“…Currently, it is not feasible to determine the remote health effects that, advisably, should be followed-up in prospective studies. Conclusions of the review of provocation studies by Rubin et al (2011) suggest that electromagnetic fields are not the reason of health problems among people with electromagnetic hypersensitivity [24]. However, we cannot directly compare the results of our study with those data because we performed a survey among people from general population, and not among people with idiopatic environmental intolerance atrributed to electromagnetic fields [24].…”

Overlap in prevalence between various types of environmental intolerance

“…Regarding intolerance to EMFs, provocation studies have shown that the EMF source per se does not seem to cause physiological symptoms and reactions (Rubin et al, 2011). These individuals may to a larger extent pay attention to environmental factors in general and react with stress responses, resulting in physiological symptoms that are attributed to factors in the environment.…”

“…SBS is defined as a set of mucosal, skin and general symptoms that are related with residing or working in a particular building with certain environmental problems (Burge, 2004). Electrosensitivity is a condition in which sufferers experience diverse, non-specific symptoms when exposed to weak electromagnetic fields from sources such as computer equipment or mobile phones (Rubin et al, 2011). NS is described as a general hypersensitivity to normal environmental sounds of any frequency that are not threatening nor uncomfortably loud to a typical person (Baguley, 2003).…”

Identification of a Novel Rat NR2B Subunit Gene Promoter Region Variant and Its Association with Microwave-Induced Neuron Impairment

“…Furthermore, some studies showed differential changes in cognitive function and structure between individuals. In populations, the prevalence of self-reported electromagnetic hypersensitivity has usually been attributed to somatization disorders [11,12]. A possible nonpsychological basis for electromagnetic hypersensitivity was evidenced by the occurrence of field-onset and field-offset brain potentials [13], and the induction of steadystate changes in brain electrical activity that persisted in the presence of the field [14], but the mechanism is still not clear.…”