An international prospective cohort study of mobile phone users and health (COSMOS): Factors affecting validity of self-reported mobile phone use.
File(s)
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
This study investigates validity of self-reported mobile phone use in a subset of 75 993 adults from the COSMOS cohort study. Agreement between self-reported and operator-derived mobile call frequency and duration for a 3-month period was assessed using Cohen's weighted Kappa (κ). Sensitivity and specificity of both self-reported high (≥10 calls/day or ≥4h/week) and low (≤6 calls/week or <30min/week) mobile phone use were calculated, as compared to operator data. For users of one mobile phone, agreement was fair for call frequency (κ=0.35, 95% CI: 0.35, 0.36) and moderate for call duration (κ=0.50, 95% CI: 0.49, 0.50). Self-reported low call frequency and duration demonstrated high sensitivity (87% and 76% respectively), but for high call frequency and duration sensitivity was lower (38% and 56% respectively), reflecting a tendency for greater underestimation than overestimation. Validity of self-reported mobile phone use was lower in women, younger age groups and those reporting symptoms during/shortly after using a mobile phone. This study highlights the ongoing value of using self-report data to measure mobile phone use. Furthermore, compared to continuous scale estimates used by previous studies, categorical response options used in COSMOS appear to improve validity considerably, most likely by preventing unrealistically high estimates from being reported.
Date Issued
2017-09-20
Date Acceptance
2017-09-18
Citation
International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health, 2017, 221 (1), pp.1-8
ISSN
1438-4639
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
1
End Page
8
Journal / Book Title
International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health
Volume
221
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© 2017, Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Sponsor
National Institute for Health Research
Department of Health via Policy Research Programme
Identifier
PII: S1438-4639(17)30321-8
Grant Number
RTJ6219303-1
Project reference number PR-ST-0713-00003
Subjects
Cellular phone
Electromagnetic fields
Radiofrequency
Telecommunications
Validation
Publication Status
Published