Evaluation of Chinese population exposure to environmental electromagnetic field based on stochastic dosimetry and parametric human modelling

Environmental science and pollution research international · 2023 · Unclear · Low evidence

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UnclearLow evidencePaper 596

Study snapshot

PublicationEnvironmental science and pollution research international · 2023

Study typeexposure_assessment

Reported directionUnclear

Evidence ratingLow

Abstract

Evaluation of Chinese population exposure to environmental electromagnetic field based on stochastic dosimetry and parametric human modelling Jiang Y, Wang H, Sun X, Li C, Wu T. Evaluation of Chinese populational exposure to environmental electromagnetic field based on stochastic dosimetry and parametric human modelling. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 Jan 7. doi: 10.1007/s11356-023-25153-y. Abstract This study aimed to estimate the distribution of the whole-body averaged specific absorption rate (WBSAR) using several measurable physique parameters for Chinese adult population exposed to environmental electromagnetic fields (EMFs) of current wireless communication frequencies, and to discuss the effects of these physique parameters in the frequency-dependent dosimetric results. The physique distribution of Chinese adults was obtained from the National Physical Fitness and Health Database comprising 81,490 adult samples. The number of physique parameters used to construct the surrogate model was reduced to three via mutual information analysis. A stochastic method with 40 deterministic simulations was used to generate frequency- dependent and gender-specific surrogate models for WBSAR via polynomial chaos expansion. In the simulations, we constructed anatomically correct models conforming to the targeted physique parameters via deformable human modelling technique, which was based on deep learning from the image database including 767 Chinese adults. Thereafter, we analysed the sensitivity of the physique parameters to WBSAR by covariance-based Sobol decomposition. The results indicated that the generated models were consistent with the targeted physique parameters. The estimated dosimetric results were validated using finite-difference time-domain simulations (the error was < 6% across all the investigated frequencies for WBSAR). The novelty of the study included that it demonstrated the feasibility of estimating the individual WBSAR using a limited number of physique parameters with the aid of surrogate modelling. In addition, the population-based distribution of the WBSAR in Chinese adults was firstly presented in the manuscript. The results also indicated that the different combinations of physique parameter, dependent on genders and frequencies, significantly influenced the WBSAR, although the general conservativeness of the guidelines of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation and Protection can be confirmed in the surveyed population. Conclusion To characterise the statistical distribution of the WBSAR in the Chinese population, we established a surrogate model using stochastic dosimetry. We reconstructed parametric human models using deformable human models. The number of input variables was reduced to three via a correlation analysis of data obtained from the national population census, which were transformed to make them uncorrelated. We validated the parametric human modelling technique, surrogate models for WBSAR, and estimated WBSAR distribution for the Chinese population. A sensitivity analysis indicated that below 2.4 GHz, HC had the most significant effect on the WBSAR for males, whereas height had the most significant effect on the WBSAR for females. In the frequency range above 2.4 GHz, the influence of the HC for females increased with the frequency, but it decreased at 2.4 and 2.6 GHz for males. The identified morphological parameters can be used as reliable indicators of the individual WBSAR. The proposed method reduced significantly the time cost for numerical simulation and human modelling for individual WBSAR and, for the first time, presented the population-based distribution of WBSAR in Chinese adults. This study advanced our understanding of estimating populational exposure to RF‒EMF at the currently used frequencies. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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AI evidence extraction

Structured fields below were generated from the paper’s abstract and metadata to make the evidence easier to inspect. Automated extraction may be incomplete or incorrect; verify important details against the original paper.

Study typeexposure_assessment

Effect directionunclear

PopulationChinese adult population

Sample size81490

ExposureRF

Evidence strengthLowConfidence: 74% · Peer reviewed: yes

Main findings

Using physique data from 81,490 Chinese adults and surrogate modeling based on stochastic dosimetry, the study estimated population-based distributions of whole-body averaged SAR (WBSAR) for current wireless communication frequencies. The surrogate models were validated against finite-difference time-domain simulations with reported error <6% across investigated frequencies for WBSAR, and results suggested ICNIRP guideline conservativeness could be confirmed in the surveyed population.

Outcomes measured

Whole-body averaged specific absorption rate (WBSAR) distribution
Frequency-dependent and gender-specific surrogate models for WBSAR
Sensitivity of physique parameters to WBSAR (Sobol decomposition)
Validation error of surrogate/FDTD simulations for WBSAR

View raw extracted JSON

{
  "study_type": "exposure_assessment",
  "exposure": {
    "band": "RF",
    "source": "wireless communication frequencies (environmental EMFs)",
    "frequency_mhz": null,
    "sar_wkg": null,
    "duration": null
  },
  "population": "Chinese adult population",
  "sample_size": 81490,
  "outcomes": [
    "Whole-body averaged specific absorption rate (WBSAR) distribution",
    "Frequency-dependent and gender-specific surrogate models for WBSAR",
    "Sensitivity of physique parameters to WBSAR (Sobol decomposition)",
    "Validation error of surrogate/FDTD simulations for WBSAR"
  ],
  "main_findings": "Using physique data from 81,490 Chinese adults and surrogate modeling based on stochastic dosimetry, the study estimated population-based distributions of whole-body averaged SAR (WBSAR) for current wireless communication frequencies. The surrogate models were validated against finite-difference time-domain simulations with reported error <6% across investigated frequencies for WBSAR, and results suggested ICNIRP guideline conservativeness could be confirmed in the surveyed population.",
  "effect_direction": "unclear",
  "limitations": [],
  "evidence_strength": "low",
  "confidence": 0.74,
  "peer_reviewed_likely": "yes",
  "keywords": [
    "RF-EMF",
    "whole-body averaged SAR",
    "WBSAR",
    "stochastic dosimetry",
    "surrogate model",
    "polynomial chaos expansion",
    "parametric human modelling",
    "deformable human model",
    "Sobol sensitivity analysis",
    "Chinese adults",
    "ICNIRP"
  ],
  "suggested_hubs": [
    {
      "slug": "who-icnirp",
      "weight": 0.62,
      "reason": "Abstract explicitly discusses conservativeness of ICNIRP guidelines in relation to estimated WBSAR distributions."
    }
  ]
}

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AI-extracted fields are generated from the abstract and metadata and may be incomplete or incorrect. This material is for informational purposes and is not medical advice.

Identifiers and source

DOI: 10.1007/s11356-023-25153-y
PubMed: 36609755

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