Co-Designed Exposure Protocol in the Study of Idiopathic Environmental Intolerance Attributed to Electromagnetic Fields

[en] The hypothesis of an electromagnetic origin of idiopathic environmental intolerance (IEI) attributed to electromagnetic fields (EMF) has been widely investigated by provocation studies, which consist of deliberately exposing people with IEI-EMF in laboratory settings to particular EMF to observe volunteers’ reactions. In the majority of these studies, reactions have been found to be independent of exposure. However, most of these studies suffer from design and methodological limitations that might bias their findings or reduce their precision. As provocation studies are best suited for isolating the effects of EMF, innovative protocols should be applied. In the ExpoComm project (PNREST Anses, EST/2017/2 RF/19), several innovations have been introduced: the involvement of people with IEI-EMF in the development of the protocol, the attenuation of the anxiogenic nature of the tests, the individualization of the protocol, the validation of the neutral or normal reactivity state before the test, and the use of a cocktail of real, rather than artificially generated, sources. The objective of involving people with IEI-EMF was to increase the relevance and acceptability of the protocol, while respecting technical constraints and scientific quality requirements. This paper describes the protocol resulting from the collaborative process. Bioelectromagnetics. © 2020 Bioelectromagnetics Society. © 2020 Bioelectromagnetics Society

Disciplines :

Electrical & electronics engineering
Public health, health care sciences & services

Author, co-author :

Ledent, Maryse

Vatovez, Benjamin

Pirard, Willy

Bordarie, Jimmy

Prignot, Nicolas

Oftedal, Gunnhild

Geuzaine, Christophe ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Dép. d'électric., électron. et informat. (Inst.Montefiore) > Applied and Computational Electromagnetics (ACE)

Beauvois, Véronique ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Dép. d'électric., électron. et informat. (Inst.Montefiore) > Applied and Computational Electromagnetics (ACE)

Bouland, Catherine

Verschaeve, Luc

Dieudonné, Maël

Title :

Co-Designed Exposure Protocol in the Study of Idiopathic Environmental Intolerance Attributed to Electromagnetic Fields

Publication date :

2020

Journal title :

Bioelectromagnetics

ISSN :

0197-8462

eISSN :

1521-186X

Publisher :

Wiley-Liss Inc.

Volume :

Issue :

Pages :

425-437

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Available on ORBi :

since 03 May 2021

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