Incubator Emissions Could Affect Heart Rates of Newborns
Researchers believe that electromagnetic fields from incubators may be interfering with the heart rates of newborn babies.
A study in the Archives of Disease and Childhood found normal changes in heart rate were reduced when the machines were turned on.
No hard evidence of any actual health damage caused by incubators was found by Italian researchers undergoing the same study.
Also, no reports of problems with the equipment were received by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority.
Thousands of newborns a year require an incubator to sustain their health after birth, often for several months at a time. The machines are mainly used to keep the surrounding air around the baby warm by creating an electromagnetic field covering the area where the baby lies.
But researchers wanted to see if this had any effect on infants’ “heart rate variability”, the natural switching up and down of the heart rate by the body.
In adult patients with heart disease, decreased heart rate variability can be used by doctors to predict a worse outcome.
But there is no evidence suggesting the same is true of babies.
The study looked at 27 babies that did not require incubator care as they were assessed over three periods of five minutes each, during which the incubator motor was left running, then switched off, then left running again.
Heart rate variability in the babies fell significantly during periods in which the incubators were “switched on”.
To insure it was not simply the noise of the motor causing the effect, researchers played a tape recording instead. No effect was found.
Researchers said it was unclear whether there were any actual health consequences from exposure to electromagnetic fields at a young age, but that modifications to incubator design might be considered.
According the report, “International recommendations and laws set levels to safeguard the health of workers exposed to electromagnetic fields – newborns should be worthy of similar protection.”
The study’s leader, Dr. Carlo Bellieni, said he did not want to alarm parents, but that a precautionary approach was necessary.
"We know that this heart rate variability has been linked to arrythmias and strokes in adults, but we do not know yet the consequences of it for these tiny babies.
He added: "What we have proved is that the effects of these machines are not neutral – and they should be."
Bellieni said more research into the results of this exposure was needed and the manufacturers of these incubators should take steps to shield the babies from their motors, and move the motors further away within the machine.
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority said it was "unaware" of any problem. In the UK, the MHPRA regulates the safety of medical devices such as incubators.
"The MHPRA has had no reports of the electromagnetic fields in incubators affecting the heart rates of newborn babies,” a spokesman said.
"If it was shown that these could present a hazard we would alert users to the problem and give suitable advice, as well as assess the design and manufacture of the incubators."
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