An overview on the effects of power frequency electromagnetic field exposure on the female reproduction system, pregnancy outcome and fetal development

Abstract

This article presents a review of the published scientific studies on the potential adverse effects of power frequency electromagnetic field (50-60 Hz) from domestic and occupational sources and electric transmission lines on female reproduction system and pregnancy outcome. In this review, publications in English were searched in the ISI Web of Knowledge, PubMed databases and Google Scholar from January 2000 to December 2017 articles. For ascertaining the reliability of study, data were extracted independently and in duplicate by two investigators. According to some of the conducted studies, environmental exposure to power frequency EMF (electromagnetic field) exposure was found to adversely affect sex hormones, female genital system, embryonic development, pregnancy outcome and fetal and offspring development, while other studies reported no significant effect of power frequency EMF exposure on reproductive parameters and embryonic and fetal development. Overall, the results were not convergent and there was controversy regarding the findings. However, it can be concluded that a part of controversy can be attributed to differences in field strength and exposure time, the experiment condition in terms of in vivo and in vitro which had a significant impact on the observed results.