Children living closer to high-voltage overhead electric lines may be at an increased risk of leukaemia, scientists have said.

Researchers have found that youngsters living within 200 m of power lines were about 70 percent more likely to develop leukaemia compared with those who lived beyond 600 m, according to the Scottish daily The Scotsman.

Those who live between 200 m and 600 m of the high-voltage power lines also have about a 20 percent increased risk.

The study published in the British Medical Journal studied more than 29,000 children with cancer, including 9,700 with leukaemia, born between 1962 and 1995.

Some researchers have suggested that low frequency magnetic fields, such as those caused by the production of electricity, could possibly be linked to cancer.

However, researchers have said that the study is still on and once confirmed the findings would amount to about five of the 400 cases of childhood leukaemia occurring annually.