Author: Jalilian H1, Eeftens M2, Ziaei M3, Röösli M2
Affiliation: <sup>1</sup>Department of Occupational Health Engineering, School of Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
<sup>2</sup>Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, P.O. Box, CH-4002, Basel, Switzerland; University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
<sup>3</sup>School of Health and Nutrition, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran. Electronic address: m.ziaei@bpums.ac.ir.
Conference/Journal: Environ Res.
Date published: 2019 May 31
Other:
Volume ID: 176 , Pages: 108517 , Special Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2019.05.048. [Epub ahead of print] , Word Count: 234
Communication technologies are rapidly changing and this may affect public exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF). This systematic review of literature aims to update a previous review on public everyday RF-EMF exposure in Europe, which covered publications until 2015. From 144 eligible records identified by means of a systematic search in PubMed, Embase and Web of Knowledge databases, published between May 2015 and 1 July 2018, 26 records met the inclusion criteria. We extracted quantitative data on public exposure in different indoors, outdoors and transport environments. The data was descriptively analyzed with respect to the exposure patterns between different types of environments. Mean RF-EMF exposure in homes, schools and offices were between 0.04 and 0.76 V/m. Mean outdoor exposure values ranged from 0.07 to 1.27 V/m with downlink signals from mobile phone base stations being the most relevant contributor. RF-EMF levels tended to increase with increasing urbanity. Levels in public transport (bus, train and tram) and cars were between 0.14 and 0.69 V/m. The highest levels, up to 1.97 V/m, were measured in public transport stations with downlink as the most relevant contributor. In line with previous studies, RF-EMF exposure levels were highest in the transportation systems followed by outdoor and private indoor environments. This review does not indicate a noticeable increase in everyday RF-EMF exposure since 2012 despite increasing use of wireless communication devices.
Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
KEYWORDS: Electromagnetic fields; Microenvironment; Public exposure; Radiofrequency; Systematic review
PMID: 31202043 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2019.05.048