%0 Journal Article %T Exposure to Non-Ionizing Radiation and Childhood Cancer: A Meta-Analysis %J Middle East Journal of Cancer %I Shiraz University of Medical Sciences %Z 2008-6709 %A Mohamad Zaki, Aznida Zaki %A Abd Rahim, Muhammad Aklil %A Zaidun, Zuraidah %A Ramdzan, Abdul Rahman %A Md Isa, Zaleha %D 2020 %\ 01/01/2020 %V 11 %N 1 %P 1-11 %! Exposure to Non-Ionizing Radiation and Childhood Cancer: A Meta-Analysis %K Non-Ionizing Radiation %K Childhood cancer %K Electromagnetic Fields %K Meta-analysis %R 10.30476/mejc.2019.78705.0 %X Background: A slight increase in the childhood cancer trend has been observed for the past few decades. Non-ionizing radiation is one of the environmental factors linked to childhood cancers. This review is conducted to assess the association between non-ionizing radiation and childhood cancer based on all original studies to date. Methods: A systematic search was conducted on the titles and abstracts pertaining to non-ionizing radiation and childhood cancers using the PubMed, Scopus, SAGE and ScienceDirect databases from inception up to November 2018. Quality of each article was appraised using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale, meta-analysis was performed with Review Manager, and fixed effects were used to estimate the pooled OR of the selected studies. Results: A total of 15 articles met all the selection criteria. Twelve articles were included in the meta-analysis. Pooled risk estimates of the 12 studies, obtained via fixed effects model, showed that children exposed to 0.2 μT or more of EMF non-ionizing radiation run 1.33 times higher risks of contracting childhood cancer compared to those with less than 0.2 μT exposure (95% CI: 1.10, 1.60). The studies were statistically homogeneous (chi-squared P=0.71, I2=0%), and there was no evidence of publication bias. Conclusion: It cannot be concluded that children exposed to non-ionizing radiation have higher risks of childhood cancer compared to those who were not exposed as claimed by the previous reviews. However, concerns about non-ionizing radiation exposure and childhood cancer should not be neglected. %U https://mejc.sums.ac.ir/article_45947_6f731cc63cbc91b819a9e986832be6c0.pdf