The effect of extremely low-frequency magnetic field (50–60 Hz) exposure on spontaneous apoptosis: The results of a meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: This paper is a meta-analysis of the published data from in vitro studies to evaluate whether spontaneous apoptosis might be influenced by extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields (MFs). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A comprehensive scientific literature search in electronic databases was conducted and studies covering the period 2000–2010 were selected. Then, published studies involving the desired topic were retrieved. The inclusion criteria were percentage of apoptosis in the cells exposed to 50–60 Hz ELF-MFs. The statistical analysis was performed by comprehensive meta-analysis version 2. RESULTS: The summary measure of association (95% confidence interval) for all 18 effect estimated from 8 studies was 1.18 (1.15, 1.20). Heterogeneity among studies was found. There was no evidence of publication bias for the association between exposure to MF and apoptosis risk. CONCLUSION: Our meta-analysis provided conclusive data that ELF-MFs can increase apoptosis in cancer and normal cells. Furthermore, there is a possibly individual intensity and time range with maximum created effect according to window effect.