Misclassification of ELF occupational exposure resulting from spatial variation of the magnetic field

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Abstract
The adequacy of a single hip‐ or chest‐worn magnetic field dosimeter to reliably classify subjects with respect to their occupational ELF magnetic field exposure is investigated. Hip‐worn dosimeters consistently underestimate both whole‐body average exposure and head exposure, tentatively regarded here as two possible definitions of the “true” exposure measurement. The approximate resulting bias in the relative risk estimate in hypothetical case‐control studies is evaluated. A chest‐worn dosimeter is found to be generally superior to a hip‐worn one in assessing exposure during the occupational tasks considered here. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss. Inc.