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2 postsProspective long-term follow-up of patients with idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields after a provocation trial
This long-term follow-up recruited participants from an earlier IEI-EMF provocation trial and re-administered the same questionnaire by telephone. Of 70 completers (35 IEI-EMF patients and 35 referents), 62.9% of patients reported recovery after an average of 1.8 years, with most recoveries described as spontaneous. Symptoms and EMF-related concerns generally decreased over time, and the authors suggest IEI-EMF may often be self-limited and consistent with nocebo mechanisms rather than direct EMF effects.
Exposure Perception and Symptom Reporting in Idiopathic Environmental Intolerance Attributed to Electromagnetic Fields Using a Co-Designed Provocation Test
This co-designed provocation study in IEI-EMF volunteers evaluated whether perceived exposure and symptom reporting tracked actual EMF exposure under double-blind conditions. The abstract reports no consistent alignment between perceived exposure certainty or symptoms and true exposure status at the group level, with limited individual exceptions. Symptom reporting was related to certainty of being exposed for about half of participants, which the authors interpret as supporting a nocebo-type mechanism and motivating refinement of provocation protocols.