Research article

Ecological study on the penetration of induction heating cookers and birth outcomes in Japan

  • Received: 27 March 2020 Accepted: 28 May 2020 Published: 05 June 2020
  • In recent years, equipment that generates intermediate-frequency electromagnetic fields (IF-EMFs) has become increasingly prevalent, and the influence of IF-EMFs on human health is thus attracting increasing attention. The present study was conducted with the aim of analyzing whether there is a relationship between the penetration of induction heating cookers and birth outcomes using an ecological study design at the prefectural level. We created data sets for all 47 prefectures in Japan using previously published statistics. Spontaneous fetal death rate, fetal death rate after 22 weeks of pregnancy, perinatal mortality rate, and proportion of newborns weighing less than 2500 g were used as birth outcomes in correlation analysis. A weak positive association was observed between the penetration of induction heating cookers and the fetal death rate after the 22nd week of pregnancy (r = 0.27, p = 0.07), but it was not statistically significant. In addition, a weak negative association was observed between the penetration of induction heating cookers and the spontaneous fetal death rate (r = −0.27, p = 0.07), but it was not statistically significant. In the present ecological study, no statistically significant association were shown between the penetration of induction heating cookers and birth outcomes. To demonstrate further the safety of induction heating cooker use, observations in epidemiological studies of other designs should be considered.

    Citation: Yasuto Sato, Kosuke Kiyohara, Sachiko Takehara, Noriko Kojimahara. Ecological study on the penetration of induction heating cookers and birth outcomes in Japan[J]. AIMS Public Health, 2020, 7(2): 336-343. doi: 10.3934/publichealth.2020028

    Related Papers:

  • In recent years, equipment that generates intermediate-frequency electromagnetic fields (IF-EMFs) has become increasingly prevalent, and the influence of IF-EMFs on human health is thus attracting increasing attention. The present study was conducted with the aim of analyzing whether there is a relationship between the penetration of induction heating cookers and birth outcomes using an ecological study design at the prefectural level. We created data sets for all 47 prefectures in Japan using previously published statistics. Spontaneous fetal death rate, fetal death rate after 22 weeks of pregnancy, perinatal mortality rate, and proportion of newborns weighing less than 2500 g were used as birth outcomes in correlation analysis. A weak positive association was observed between the penetration of induction heating cookers and the fetal death rate after the 22nd week of pregnancy (r = 0.27, p = 0.07), but it was not statistically significant. In addition, a weak negative association was observed between the penetration of induction heating cookers and the spontaneous fetal death rate (r = −0.27, p = 0.07), but it was not statistically significant. In the present ecological study, no statistically significant association were shown between the penetration of induction heating cookers and birth outcomes. To demonstrate further the safety of induction heating cooker use, observations in epidemiological studies of other designs should be considered.



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    Acknowledgments



    This study was supported by a Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications grant for research on the biological electromagnetic environment (No. 0155–0013). The content of the present study is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. All data used in the present study are publicly available from the sources indicated.

    Conflict of interest



    All authors declare no conflicts of interest in this paper.

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