Study: Incubator's Electromagnetic Fields May Affect Heart Rates Of Newborns

May 2, 2008 7:34 a.m. EST

Siena, Italy (AHN) - A new study suggests that electromagnetic fields produced by incubators have the ability to modify the heart rates of newborn babies.

Researchers from the University of Siena's Department of Pediatrics, Obstetrics, and Reproductive Medicine studied 43 healthy newborns.

Twenty seven were tested in the incubators for three periods of five minutes each, with the machines turn on, then turned off and then turned on again.

The remaining 16 babies served as a control group.

Lead researcher Dr. Carlo Bellieni and his group found out that when the machine was on, heart variability of babies in the incubator decreases.

Heart variability decrease means a poor forecast in adult patients with heart disease.

Incubators are used for maintaining premature and newborn infants in an environment adapted to their needs.

The study was published in the May issue of the Archives of Disease in Childhood.