Study type: Epidemiological study (observational study)

A follow-up study of the association between mobile phone use and symptoms of ill health epidem.

Published in: Environ Health Toxicol 2017; 32: e2017001

Aim of study (acc. to author)

A cohort study was conducted in Korea to investigate the association between mobile phone usage and subjective symptoms in adults.

Further details

Health symptoms were assessed by the Headache Impact Test-6 (HIT-6), the Psychosocial Well-being Index-Short Form (PWI-SF), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Korean-Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (K-IADL), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the 12-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12).
The results of the cross-sectional study of the same study population are published in Cho et al. (2016).

Endpoint/type of risk estimation

Exposure

Assessment

Exposure groups

Group Description
Group 1 average call duration: < 5 min at baseline and follow-up
Group 2 average call duration: ≥ 5 min at baseline and < 5 min at follow-up
Group 3 average call duration: < 5 min at baseline and ≥ 5 min at follow-up
Group 4 average call duration: ≥ 5 min at baseline and follow-up

Population

Study size

Type Value
Total 532
Statistical analysis method:

Results (acc. to author)

The average duration per mobile phone call decreased significantly between baseline and follow-up (median: 1.5 min, 1.3 min respectively) .
A significant correlation was observed between the reduction in the average call duration and a decrease in headache among women only. Severity of headaches in the follow-up survey significantly decreased compared to those in the baseline survey (groups 1-3). Mobile phone use was not significantly associated with stress, sleep, cognitive function, or depression.
The authors conclude that an increased mobile phone call duration is a greater risk factor for increases in headache than any other type of adverse health effect, and that this effect could be chronic.

Limitations (acc. to author)

Exposure assessment was based on self-reported data of the study participants. There are a lot of factors that may affect headache symptom which were not included in the study.

Study funded by

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