Occupational exposures and Parkinson's disease mortality in a prospective Dutch cohort.
Brouwer M, Koeman T, van den Brandt PA, Kromhout H, Schouten LJ, Peters S, Huss A, Vermeulen R. · 2015
View Original AbstractMen with high workplace magnetic field exposure showed 54% higher Parkinson's mortality risk in this 17-year study.
Plain English Summary
Dutch researchers followed over 120,000 people for 17 years to study whether workplace exposures increase Parkinson's disease deaths. They found that men with high occupational exposure to extremely low frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MF) had a 54% higher risk of dying from Parkinson's disease. This matters because ELF-MF exposure comes from power lines, electrical equipment, and many common workplace environments.
Why This Matters
This study adds important evidence to our understanding of EMF health risks beyond cancer. The 54% increased risk of Parkinson's mortality among men highly exposed to ELF-MF at work represents a substantial health concern, especially given how common these exposures are in industrial and electrical occupations. What makes this research particularly valuable is its prospective design - researchers followed participants for nearly two decades, avoiding the recall bias that weakens many occupational health studies. The reality is that workplace ELF-MF exposures are often much higher than residential levels, but the biological mechanisms suggested here - potential neurodegeneration from chronic EMF exposure - could apply to lower-level chronic exposures we all face daily from household electrical systems and devices.
Exposure Information
Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study.
Study Details
We investigated the association between six occupational exposures (ie, pesticides, solvents, metals, diesel motor emissions (DME), extremely low frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MF) and electric shocks) and Parkinson's disease (PD) mortality in a large population-based prospective cohort study.
The Netherlands Cohort Study on diet and cancer enrolled 58,279 men and 62,573 women aged 55-69 year...
Among men, elevated HRs were observed for exposure to pesticides (eg, ever high exposed, HR 1.27, 95...
Associations with PD mortality were observed for occupational exposure to pesticides and ELF-MF. However, the weight given to these findings is limited by the absence of a monotonic trend with either duration or cumulative exposure. No associations were found between PD mortality and occupational exposure to solvents, metals, DME or electric shocks.
Show BibTeX
@article{m_2015_occupational_exposures_and_parkinsons_1725,
author = {Brouwer M and Koeman T and van den Brandt PA and Kromhout H and Schouten LJ and Peters S and Huss A and Vermeulen R.},
title = {Occupational exposures and Parkinson's disease mortality in a prospective Dutch cohort.},
year = {2015},
url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25713156/},
}