American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 145, No. 1: 1-9
Copyright © 1997 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health
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Cancer Incidence near Radio and Television Transmitters in Great Britain I. Sutton Coldfield Transmitter
1Environmental Epidemiology Unit, Department of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, England
2Small Area Health Statistics Unit, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, Imperial College School of Medicine at St Mary's, London, England
Reprint request to Dr. Helen Dolk, Environment Epidemilogy Unit, Department of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hyglene and Tropical Medicine, KeppalStreet, London WC1 7HT, England.
A small area study of cancer incidence in 1974–1986 was carried out to investigate an unconfirmed report of a "cluster" of leukemias and lymphomas near the Sutton Coldfield television (TV) and frequency modulation (FM) radio transmitter in the West Midlands, England. The study used a national database of postcoded cancer registrations, and population and socioeconomic data from the 1981 census. Selected cancers were hema-topoietic and lymphatic, brain, skin, eye, male breast, female breast, lung, colorectal, stomach, prostate, and bladder. Expected numbers of cancers in small areas were calculated by indirect standardization, with stratification for a small area socioeconomic index. The study area was defined as a 10 km radius circle around the transmitter, within which 10 bands of increasing distance from the transmitter were defined as a basis for testing for a decline in risk with distance, and an inner area was arbitrarily defined for descriptive purposes as a 2 km radius circle. The risk of adult leukemia within 2 km was 1.83 (95% confidence interval 1.22–2.74), and there was a significant decline in risk with distance from the transmitter (p = 0.001). These findings appeared to be consistent over the periods 1974–1980 and 1981–1986, and were probably largely independent of the initially reported cluster, which appeared to concern mainly a later period. In the context of variability of leukemia risk across census wards in the West Midlands as a whole, the Sutton Coldfield findings were unusual. A significant decline in risk with distance was also found for skin cancer, possibly related to residual socioeconomic confounding, and for bladder cancer. Study of other radio and TV transmitters in Great Britain is required to put the present results in wider context. No causal implications can be made from a single cluster investigation of this kind. Am J Epidemiol 1997;145:1–9.
electromagnetic fields; leukemia; neoplasms; radio waves
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