Headache, tinnitus and hearing loss in the international Cohort Study of Mobile Phone Use and Health (COSMOS) in Sweden and Finland
File(s)
Supplementary information
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Background
Mobile phone use and exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) from it have been associated with symptoms in some studies, but the studies have shortcomings and their findings are inconsistent. We conducted a prospective cohort study to assess the association between amount of mobile phone use at baseline and frequency of headache, tinnitus or hearing loss at 4-year follow-up.
Methods
The participants had mobile phone subscriptions with major mobile phone network operators in Sweden (n = 21 049) and Finland (n = 3120), gave consent for obtaining their mobile phone call data from operator records at baseline, and filled in both baseline and follow-up questionnaires on symptoms, potential confounders and further characteristics of their mobile phone use.
Results
The participants with the highest decile of recorded call-time (average call-time >276 min per week) at baseline showed a weak, suggestive increased frequency of weekly headaches at 4-year follow-up (adjusted odds ratio 1.13, 95% confidence interval 0.95–1.34). There was no obvious gradient of weekly headache with increasing call-time (P trend 0.06). The association of headache with call-time was stronger for the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) network than older Global System for Mobile Telecommunications (GSM) technology, despite the latter involving higher exposure to RF-EMF. Tinnitus and hearing loss showed no association with call-time.
Conclusions
People using mobile phones most extensively for making or receiving calls at baseline reported weekly headaches slightly more frequently at follow-up than other users, but this finding largely disappeared after adjustment for confounders and was not related to call-time in GSM with higher RF-EMF exposure. Tinnitus and hearing loss were not associated with amount of call-time.
Mobile phone use and exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) from it have been associated with symptoms in some studies, but the studies have shortcomings and their findings are inconsistent. We conducted a prospective cohort study to assess the association between amount of mobile phone use at baseline and frequency of headache, tinnitus or hearing loss at 4-year follow-up.
Methods
The participants had mobile phone subscriptions with major mobile phone network operators in Sweden (n = 21 049) and Finland (n = 3120), gave consent for obtaining their mobile phone call data from operator records at baseline, and filled in both baseline and follow-up questionnaires on symptoms, potential confounders and further characteristics of their mobile phone use.
Results
The participants with the highest decile of recorded call-time (average call-time >276 min per week) at baseline showed a weak, suggestive increased frequency of weekly headaches at 4-year follow-up (adjusted odds ratio 1.13, 95% confidence interval 0.95–1.34). There was no obvious gradient of weekly headache with increasing call-time (P trend 0.06). The association of headache with call-time was stronger for the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) network than older Global System for Mobile Telecommunications (GSM) technology, despite the latter involving higher exposure to RF-EMF. Tinnitus and hearing loss showed no association with call-time.
Conclusions
People using mobile phones most extensively for making or receiving calls at baseline reported weekly headaches slightly more frequently at follow-up than other users, but this finding largely disappeared after adjustment for confounders and was not related to call-time in GSM with higher RF-EMF exposure. Tinnitus and hearing loss were not associated with amount of call-time.
Date Issued
2019-10
Date Acceptance
2019-05-28
Citation
International Journal of Epidemiology, 2019, 48 (5), pp.1567-1579
ISSN
1464-3685
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Start Page
1567
End Page
1579
Journal / Book Title
International Journal of Epidemiology
Volume
48
Issue
5
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association.1This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial reproduction and distribution of the work, in any medium, provided the original work is not altered or transformed in any way,and that the work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contactjournals.permissions@oup.com
Sponsor
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust- BRC Funding
Department of Health
Medical Research Council (MRC)
Medical Research Council (MRC)
Medical Research Council (MRC)
National Institute for Health Research
Department of Health
Identifier
https://academic.oup.com/ije/article/48/5/1567/5532178
Grant Number
RDF03
PR-ST-0713-00003
MR/L01341X/1
MR/L01632X/1
MR/L01632X/1
RTJ6219303-1
RUM 27
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Cohort studies
cell phones
headache
tinnitus
hearing loss
ELECTROMAGNETIC-FIELDS
DOUBLE-BLIND
EXPOSURE
SYMPTOMS
FREQUENCY
IMPACT
ADULTS
Cohort studies
cell phones
headache
hearing loss
tinnitus
COSMOS Study Group
Epidemiology
0104 Statistics
1117 Public Health and Health Services
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2019-07-13