Cardiovascular risk under electromagnetic exposure in physiotherapy

The aim of the study was to assess the long-term effects of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) on cardiovascular system of medical staff in physiotherapy. A number of 52 exposed subjects (4 male and 48 female; aged 47.3 ± 8.7 years), and a control group of 52 subjects, matched by sex and age, with similar job characteristics without EMR exposure were studied. The EMR exposure from devices emitting at 50 Hz, 150 kHz, 27.12 MHz, 2.45 GHz, and optical radiation was assessed. The relative values of EMR for the whole frequency range in each physiotherapy were calculated and the obtained quota was much larger than 1. The workload and psychosocial factors were evaluated, too. The cardiovascular risk factors arterial pressure, lipid profile, body mass index, waist/hip ratio, smoking, alcohol consumption, nutrition, family history of cardiovascular disease were studied. The incidence of hypertension was moderate with the studied physiotherapists (26.9% v.s. 23.8% control group). The total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were significantly higher in the exposed group. The odds ratios indicate higher possibility of becoming dyslipidemic for the exposed to EMR subjects [for TC OR (95% CI) = 1.570 (1.048–2.351) and for LDL-C OR (95% CI) = 1.840 (1.158–2.924)]. In conclusion, our data show that the EMR exposure of the medical staff in physiotherapy could be associated with the adverse effects on cardiovascular system.