An Investigation on the Effect of Extremely Low Frequency Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields on Human Electrocardiograms (ECGs)

Qiang Fang, Seedahmed S. Mahmoud, Jiayong Yan and Hui Li
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Qiang Fang: School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne 3000, Victoria, Australia
Seedahmed S. Mahmoud: School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne 3000, Victoria, Australia
Jiayong Yan: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Shanghai 201318, China
Hui Li: The Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510900, China

IJERPH, 2016, vol. 13, issue 11, 1-10

Abstract: For this investigation, we studied the effects of extremely low frequency pulse electromagnetic fields (ELF-PEMF) on the human cardiac signal. Electrocardiograms (ECGs) of 22 healthy volunteers before and after a short duration of ELF-PEMF exposure were recorded. The experiment was conducted under single-blind conditions. The root mean square (RMS) value of the recorded data was considered as comparison criteria. We also measured and analysed four important ECG time intervals before and after ELF-PEMF exposure. Results revealed that the RMS value of the ECG recordings from 18 participants (81.8% of the total participants) increased with a mean value of 3.72%. The increase in ECG voltage levels was then verified by a second experimental protocol with a control exposure. In addition to this, we used hyperbolic T-distributions (HTD) in the analysis of ECG signals to verify the change in the RR interval. It was found that there were small shifts in the frequency-domain signal before and after EMF exposure. This shift has an influence on all frequency components of the ECG signals, as all spectrums were shifted. It is shown from this investigation that a short time exposure to ELF-PEMF can affect the properties of ECG signals. Further study is needed to consolidate this finding and discover more on the biological effects of ELF-PEMF on human physiological processes.

Keywords: electrocardiograms (ECGs); extremely low frequency pulse electromagnetic fields (ELF-PEMF); time frequency analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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