The issue of adverse human health effects due to exposure to electromagnetic fields is still unclear, and congenital anomalies are among the outcomes that have been inconsistently associated with such exposure. We conducted a population-based, case-control study to examine the risk of congenital anomalies associated with maternal exposure to magnetic fields (MF) from high-voltage power lines during pregnancy in a community in northern Italy. We identified 228 cases of congenital malformations diagnosed in live births, stillbirths, and induced abortions among women living in the municipality of Reggio Emilia during the period 1998-2006, and a reference group of healthy newborns was matched for year of birth, maternal age, and hospital of birth. We identified maternal residence during early pregnancy and used Geographic Information System to determine whether the residences were within geocoded corridors with MF ≥0.1 μT near high-voltage power lines, then calculated the relative risk (RR) of congenital anomalies associated with maternal exposure. One case and 5 control mothers were classified as exposed, and the RR associated with MF ≥0.1 μT was 0.2 (95% CI: 0.0-2.0) after adjusting for maternal education. While small or moderate effects may have gone undetected due to low statistical power, the results of this study overall do not provide support for major effects of a teratogenic risk due to exposure to MF during early pregnancy.

中文翻译：

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孕产妇暴露于高压电源线产生的磁场中以及存在出生缺陷的风险。

由于暴露于电磁场而对人类健康产生不利影响的问题仍不清楚，并且先天性异常是与此类暴露不一致相关的结果之一。我们进行了一项基于人群的病例对照研究，以检查在意大利北部一个社区中，孕妇在怀孕期间因高压电源线而暴露于磁场（MF）的母亲所致的先天性异常的风险。我们在1998年至2006年期间，在雷焦艾米利亚市居住的妇女中，发现了228例在活产，死产和人工流产中诊断为先天性畸形的病例，并将健康新生儿参考组与出生年份，产妇年龄，和出生医院。我们在怀孕初期确定了母亲的住所，并使用地理信息系统确定了住所是否在高压电源线附近的MF≥0.1μT的地理编码走廊内，然后计算了与母亲暴露有关的先天性异常的相对风险（RR）。调整母体教育后，将1例病例和5例对照母亲分类为暴露母亲，与MF≥0.1μT相关的RR为0.2（95％CI：0.0-2.0）。尽管由于较低的统计功效可能未发现中度或轻微影响，但该研究的总体结果并未为妊娠早期暴露于MF所致致畸风险的主要影响提供支持。然后计算与孕产妇暴露相关的先天性异常的相对风险（RR）。调整母体教育后，将1例病例和5例对照母亲分类为暴露母亲，与MF≥0.1μT相关的RR为0.2（95％CI：0.0-2.0）。尽管由于较低的统计功效可能未发现中度或轻微影响，但该研究的总体结果并未为妊娠早期暴露于MF所致致畸风险的主要影响提供支持。然后计算与孕产妇暴露相关的先天性异常的相对风险（RR）。调整母体教育后，将1例病例和5例对照母亲分类为暴露母亲，与MF≥0.1μT相关的RR为0.2（95％CI：0.0-2.0）。尽管由于较低的统计功效可能未发现中度或轻微影响，但该研究的总体结果并未为妊娠早期暴露于MF所致致畸风险的主要影响提供支持。