{
  "id": "studies:rubin-2010",
  "collection": "studies",
  "slug": "rubin-2010-provocation-review",
  "name": "Rubin et al. 2010 — updated systematic review of EHS provocation studies",
  "summary": "46 blind or double-blind provocation experiments with 1175 self-reported sensitive volunteers: no robust evidence that field exposure triggered their symptoms, and support for a nocebo mechanism instead.",
  "status": "verified",
  "lastVerified": "2026-08-12",
  "data": {
    "authors": "Rubin GJ, Nieto-Hernandez R, Wessely S",
    "year": 2010,
    "design": "systematic-review",
    "exposure": "Blinded active versus sham exposure to mobile-phone, base-station, ELF and other fields, in volunteers reporting sensitivity",
    "finding": "Across 46 experiments no robust evidence was found that exposure triggers symptoms or that participants can tell active from sham fields; the included studies did support a role for the nocebo effect in triggering acute symptoms. The authors conclude that a narrow focus on bioelectromagnetic mechanisms is unlikely to help patients in the long term.",
    "limitations": "Provocation studies test short, acute exposures under laboratory conditions and cannot rule out effects with a long latency or ones that depend on real-world exposure patterns — the gap ANSES 2018 asked researchers to close. A negative provocation result says nothing about whether the symptoms are real or disabling; it addresses only whether the field is what triggers them.",
    "weight": "moderate",
    "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19681059/",
    "related": [
      "studies:who-ehs-2005",
      "glossary:nocebo-effect",
      "questions:does-nocebo-mean-my-symptoms-are-imagined"
    ]
  },
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "rubin-2010",
      "title": "Idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields (formerly 'electromagnetic hypersensitivity'): an updated systematic review of provocation studies",
      "publisher": "Rubin GJ, Nieto-Hernandez R, Wessely S — Bioelectromagnetics 31(1):1–11",
      "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19681059/",
      "year": 2010,
      "kind": "peer-reviewed",
      "retrieved": "2026-08-12"
    }
  ],
  "links": {
    "self": "https://emfbase.com/api/studies/rubin-2010-provocation-review",
    "html": "https://emfbase.com/studies/rubin-2010-provocation-review",
    "markdown": "https://emfbase.com/studies/rubin-2010-provocation-review.md",
    "collection": "https://emfbase.com/api/studies"
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}