WEDNESDAY, April 30 (HealthDay News) -- Results of a small study
show that the electromagnetic field produced by incubators affect
the heart rates of newborn babies, Italian researchers report.
Whether these changes in cardiac rhythms have long-term effects
isn't known, but they could have implications for premature infants
who can spend several weeks or months in incubators, the
researchers said.
"Neonatal incubators are designed to shield fragile babies from
external foes and to preserve their temperature, and they are good
for this. Yet we showed that most of them produce relevant
electromagnetic fields, and this study is the first to show that
this exposure has an influence on babies' autonomous nervous
system," said lead researcher Dr. Carlo Bellieni, of the University
of Siena's Department of Pediatrics, Obstetrics, and Reproductive
Medicine.
"Neonatal incubators are not electromagnetically neutral, and
this data deserves as much attention as the concerns about risks
from cellular phones or high voltage lines on adults," he said.
However, Bellieni doesn't think that people should be overly
concerned by this phenomenon.
"Alarm is not justified, because incubators are necessary to
babies and because no long-term effect of this exposure has been
demonstrated on babies' health," Bellieni said. "Thorough analyses
of possible long-term effects of this exposure are needed."
The report was published in the May issue of the
Archives of Disease in Childhood.
In the study, Bellieni's team looked at the changes of heart
rates among 43 newborns, who were critically ill or premature. The
researchers assessed the heart rates of 27 babies over three
five-minute periods during which the incubators motor was left on,
then switched off and then turned on again.
To determine if the noise of the motor might be a factor, 16 of
the infants were exposed to background noise, while the incubators
motor was turned off.
Bellieni's group found that background noise did not affect
heart rate. However, heart rate was significantly affected by the
incubators. When the incubator was turned on, the heart rate
variability dropped significantly, the researchers found.
A drop in heart rate variability is a strong predictor of poor
outcomes in adult patients with heart disease, the researchers
noted.
More information
For more on premature infants, visit the
U.S.
National Institutes of Health.
