Does exposure to radiofrequency radiation (RFR) affect the circadian rhythm of rest-activity patterns and behavioral sleep variables in humans?

ABSTRACT

We evaluated the effects of the exposure to radio-frequency radiation emanating from the base transceiver station (BTS) on the characteristics of circadian rest-activity rhythm and behavioral sleep variables in humans. We performed this exploratory field study in a sample of 89 healthy subjects randomly chosen out of 1434 individuals surveyed for the purpose. We divided 89 subjects into five groups, including the control, as a function of distance from the BTS. The E-field strength was higher in the groups of the inter-tower region and between 0 and 150 m away from the BTS. The E-field (distance) did not significantly affect the circadian rhythm parameters and behavioral sleep variables, except a marginal delay in the peak timings of the rest-activity rhythm of subjects in the inter-tower and 300–500 m groups. Notable secondary effects of the factor gender were noticed on circadian amplitude, sleep efficiency, dichotomy index, and wake after sleep onset. We concluded that exposure to radiation from the BTS did not modulate actigraphy-based behavioral sleep variables of people residing around BTS installations. We recommend more extensive field-based studies with rigorous longitudinal designs to validate the effects of radiation from the BTS in humans.

KEYWORDS:

• BTS
• RF-EMR
• actigraphy
• rest-activity rhythm
• behavioral sleep variables
• human

Acknowledgments

This work is a part of the Doctor of Philosophy thesis of one of the authors (MMS). We are grateful to the University Grants Commission, New Delhi, for support through its DRS-SAP scheme sanctioned, in the thrust area – Chronobiology, to the School of Studies in Life Science, Pandit Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur. Support from the Center for Translational Chronobiology is also gratefully acknowledged. We are thankful to Mr. Narhari Jaishwal, who constructed the 3D image of the BTS localities using the GoogleEarthProSetup.exe. We are grateful to all subjects for their voluntary participation in the study. We are also grateful to three anonymous reviewers who provided constructive suggestions for the improvement of the article.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

We acknowledge the award of University Research Fellowship by Pandit Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur, India, under the University Scholarship scheme for Senior Research Fellowship (Grant number 1842/13/Fin/2017 dated 07/04/2017) to MMS.