Author: Morvarid Irani1,2, Maryam Aradmehr1,2, Mohammad Ghorbani2, Roya Baghani3
Affiliation: <sup>1</sup> Department of Midwifery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences, Torbat Heydariyeh, Iran.
<sup>2</sup> Health Sciences Research Center, School of Health, Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences, Torbat Heydariyeh, Iran.
<sup>3</sup> Department of Midwifery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahroud University of Medical Sciences, Shahroud, Iran.
Conference/Journal: Malays J Med Sci
Date published: 2023 Oct 1
Other:
Volume ID: 30 , Issue ID: 5 , Pages: 70-80 , Special Notes: doi: 10.21315/mjms2023.30.5.6. , Word Count: 206
This study examined the effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) on pregnancy and the risk of miscarriage. We performed a systematic search for relevant studies published to August 2021 in the medical databases of PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar and Cochrane Library. The following key terms were used: 'electromagnetic field,' 'mobile phones,' 'mobile phone base stations,' 'watching TV,' 'using Internet,' 'miscarriage,' 'abortions,' 'spontaneous abortion,' 'early abortion' and 'late abortion'. All case-control and cohort studies that investigated the effect of EMF exposure on the risk of miscarriage were included without any restriction of language or time. Statistical analyses were done using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software (version 2.0). A random-effects model was performed to calculate the overall effect size. A primary search revealed a total of 982 relevant studies; six articles (N = 3,187 participants) met the inclusion criteria for the meta-analysis. The results of the random-effects meta-analysis indicated that EMF exposure had a significant effect on miscarriage: rate ratio (RR) = 1.699; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.121, 2.363 (P < 0.001); and heterogeneity (I2) = 84.55% (P < 0.001). The findings showed that pregnant woman who were exposed to high levels of EMF had an increased risk of miscarriage.
Keywords: abortion; electromagnetic field; miscarriage; pregnancy.
PMID: 37928787 PMCID: PMC10624444 DOI: 10.21315/mjms2023.30.5.6