Time course of health complaints attributed to RF-EMF exposure and predictors of electromagnetic hypersensitivity over 10 years in a prospective cohort of Dutch adults

Abstract

Background: Some individuals attribute health complaints to radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) exposure. This condition, known as idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to RF-EMFs (IEI-RF) or electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS), can be disabling for those who are affected. In this study we assessed factors related to developing, maintaining, or discarding IEI-RF over the course of 10 years, and predictors of developing EHS at follow-up using a targeted question without the condition of reporting health complaints attributed to RF-EMF exposure.

Methods: Participants (n = 892, mean age 50 at baseline, 52 % women) from the Dutch Occupational and Environmental Health Cohort Study AMIGO filled in questionnaires in 2011/2012 (T₀), 2013 (T₁), and 2021 (T₄) where information pertaining to perceived RF-EMF exposure and risk, non-specific symptoms, sleep problems, IEI-RF, and EHS was collected. We fitted multi-state Markov models to represent how individuals transitioned between states ("yes", "no") of IEI-RF.

Results: At each time point, about 1 % of study participants reported health complaints that they attributed to RF-EMF exposure. While this percentage remained stable, the individuals who reported such complaints changed over time: of nine persons reporting health complaints at T₀, only one reported IEI-RF at both T₁ and T₄, and two newly reported health complaints at T₄. Overall, participants had a 95 % chance of transitioning from "yes" to "no" over a time course of 10 years, and a chance of 1 % of transitioning from "no" to "yes". Participants with high perceived RF-EMF exposure and risk had a general tendency to move more frequently between states.

Conclusions: We observed a low prevalence of IEI-RF in our population. Prevalence did not vary strongly over time but there was a strong aspect of change: over 10 years, there was a high probability of not attributing symptoms to RF-EMF exposure anymore. IEI-RF appears to be a more transient condition than previously assumed.

Keywords: Electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS); Idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to RF-EMFs (IEI-RF); Radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs).