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Case-control study of occupational exposure to electric shocks and magnetic fields and mortality from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in the US, 1991–1999

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 25, pages 65–71 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

We investigated the relationship between occupational exposure to electric shocks (ES) and magnetic fields (MF) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) using 1991–1999 US mortality data. For each of the 5886 included ALS deaths, 10 controls—matched on sex-, age-, year- and region—were selected from among other deaths. Usual occupation as reported on death certificates was linked to job-exposure matrices for ES and MF. Education and electric occupations were associated with moderately increased ALS risks (odds ratio (OR)=1.85, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.67, 2.04; OR=1.23, 95% CI=1.04, 1.47, respectively). For ES, ALS mortality OR were 0.73 (95% CI=0.67, 0.79) for high and 0.90 (95% CI=0.84, 0.97) for medium exposure compared with low exposure. For MF, ALS ORs were 1.09 (95% CI=1.00, 1.19) for high and 1.09 (95% CI=0.96, 1.23) for medium exposure as compared with low exposure. For electric occupations, ALS ORs were insensitive to adjustments for ES, MF or both. Consistent with previous publications, an association between electric occupations and ALS was observed. Findings do not support occupational exposure to ES or MF as an explanation.

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Abbreviations

ALS:

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

BOC:

Bureau of Census

ES:

electric shocks

ICD:

International Classification of Diseases

JEM:

job-exposure matrices

MF:

magnetic fields

MND:

motor neuron disease

NCHS:

National Center for Health Statistics

OR:

odds ratio

SES:

socioeconomic status.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Yong-Sung Cho for initial descriptive analysis of the NCHS mortality dataset. This study was supported, in part, by Grant Number: 1R21OH009901-01A1 from the Center for Disease Control and the Prevention National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (CDC-NIOSH). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of either the CDC-NIOSH or NCHS, which is responsible only for the initial data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environment Sector, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Palo Alto, California, USA

    Ximena Vergara & Gabor Mezei

  2. Department of Epidemiology, UCLA School of Public Health, Los Angeles, California, USA

    Leeka Kheifets

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  1. Ximena Vergara
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Correspondence to Ximena Vergara.

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Vergara, X., Mezei, G. & Kheifets, L. Case-control study of occupational exposure to electric shocks and magnetic fields and mortality from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in the US, 1991–1999. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 25, 65–71 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2014.39

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