Study type: Epidemiological study (observational study)

Mobile phone use and risk of brain neoplasms and other cancers: prospective study epidem.

Published in: Int J Epidemiol 2013; 42 (3): 792-802

Aim of study (acc. to author)

The association between mobile phone use and incidence of intracranial central nervous system tumors and other cancers was investigated in a UK prospective cohort.

Endpoint/type of risk estimation

Type of risk estimation: (relative risk (RR))

Exposure

Assessment

Exposure groups

Group Description
Reference group 1 mobile phone use: never
Group 2 mobile phone use: ever
Group 3 mobile phone use: daily
Group 4 duration of use: ≥ 10 years

Population

Study size

Type Value
Total 1,300,000
Eligible 791,710
Statistical analysis method:

Results (acc. to author)

During an average of 7 years' follow-up, 51,680 incident invasive cancers and 562 incident non-invasive intracranial CNS tumors occurred among 791,710 middle-aged women.
Risk among women who ever used a mobile phone compared to women who never used a mobile phone was not increased for all intracranial CNS tumors (RR 1.01, CI 0.90-1.14), for specified CNS tumor types nor for cancer at 18 other specified sites. For long-term users compared with never users, there was no appreciable association for glioma (≥ 10 years: RR 0.78, 0.55-1.10) or meningioma (≥ 10 years: RR 1.10, CI 0.66-1.84). For acoustic neuroma, there was an increase in risk with long term use vs never use (≥ years: RR 2.46, CI 1.07-5.64), the risk increasing with duration of use (trend among users, P 0.03). National incidence data showed no overall increase in the incidence of acoustic neuroma in either men or women at ages 20-79 years in England from 1998 to 2008.
The authors concluded that mobile phone use was not associated with increased incidence of glioma, meningioma or non-CNS cancers in this large prospective study.

Study funded by

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