Mobile Phone Use and Brain Tumors in Children and Adolescents: A Multicenter Case-Control Study (original) (raw)

Methodological Aspects of Epidemiological Studies on the Use of Mobile Phones and their Association with Brain Tumors

The Open Environmental Journal, 2008

Our case-control studies were the first to report an association between the use of mobile or cordless phones and brain tumors; glioma and acoustic neuroma. Criticism of these results has been based partly on results from the Interphone studies conducted under the auspice of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Here, we compare study design and epidemiological methods used in our studies and the Interphone studies. We conclude that while our results appear sound and reliable, several of the Interphone findings display differential misclassification of exposure due to observational and recall bias, for example, following low participation rates in both cases and controls and bed-side computer guided interviews of cases rather than blinded interviews of cases and controls. However, as we have presented elsewhere, there seems to be a consistent pattern of an association between mobile phone use and ipsilateral glioma and acoustic neuroma using > 10 years latency period.

Mobile phone use and brain tumours in the CERENAT case-control study

Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 2014

The carcinogenic effect of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields in humans remains controversial. However, it has been suggested that they could be involved in the aetiology of some types of brain tumours. Objectives The objective was to analyse the association between mobile phone exposure and primary central nervous system tumours (gliomas and meningiomas) in adults. Methods CERENAT is a multicenter case-control study carried out in four areas in France in 2004-2006. Data about mobile phone use were collected through a detailed questionnaire delivered in a face-to-face manner. Conditional logistic regression for matched sets was used to estimate adjusted ORs and 95% CIs. Results A total of 253 gliomas, 194 meningiomas and 892 matched controls selected from the local electoral rolls were analysed. No association with brain tumours was observed when comparing regular mobile phone users with non-users (OR=1.24; 95% CI 0.86 to 1.77 for gliomas, OR=0.90; 95% CI 0.61 to 1.34 for meningiomas). However, the positive association was statistically significant in the heaviest users when considering lifelong cumulative duration (≥896 h, OR=2.89; 95% CI 1.41 to 5.93 for gliomas; OR=2.57; 95% CI 1.02 to 6.44 for meningiomas) and number of calls for gliomas (≥18 360 calls, OR=2.10, 95% CI 1.03 to 4.31). Risks were higher for gliomas, temporal tumours, occupational and urban mobile phone use. Conclusions These additional data support previous findings concerning a possible association between heavy mobile phone use

Mobile phone use and brain tumor: an age-period-cohort analysis of brain tumor rates in the Nordic population

Background: The association of the mobile phone use and risk of brain tumor remains controversial among radiation epidemiologists. Methods: We hypothesized if an association between brain tumor and mobile phone use exists, this association will be manifested as a cohort effect (as a proxy of association be- tween mobile phone use and brain tumor) in the incidence rates of brain tumor during the period of 1990 to 2009. We used age-period-cohort methodology (generalized log-linear model) and compared the distribution of cohort effects in the observed rates of brain tu- mor from 1990 to 2009 to the cohort effects from rates driven based on epidemiological study results that reported a positive association between brain tumor and mobile phone use in the Nordic population. Three latency period of 1-4 years with odds ratio (OR) of 1.2, latency period of 5-9 years with OR of 1.3, and latency period of more than 10 years with OR of 2.7 were used to estimate expected rates. Results: The distribution of cohort effects between observed and expected rates were more similar among the males compared with females. A shorter latency was more con- sistent to observed rates. Conclusion: Our study supports a possible a weak association between mobile phone use and brain tumor; further fueling the controversies in association.

Causal Association between Mobile Phone Use and Brain Cancer: A [Modest] Epidemiological Analysis

2013

The advent of mobile phones has expanded our mode of communication to lengths that we, as consumers of modern technology, seem to have taken for granted. Whether this is truly the case, however, depends on the degree to which the users of such a commodity pay attention to negative exposures that are essentially voluntary and possibly controllable (Wood, 2005). The case to which this matter refers to is one of the most debated topics in public health today: whether a causal association between mobile phone use and cancers of the brain exists. Despite attempts to investigate and elucidate the issue, epidemiological studies from the past and present predominantly continue to yield inconsistent evidence and views. More importantly, the analyses of biological plausibility and epidemiological study design and methodology reveals a polarized spectrum of findings and explanations that lead to an inconclusive consensus. This occurrence, conversely, does not entail the failure of such research but rather an impending need to improve future studies in their quest to find clear answers. As Olsen (2010, p. 281) states, “…we will need to address questions about the safety of these new, frequent, and avoidable exposures.”

Mobile Phone Use and the Risk for Malignant Brain Tumors: A Case-Control Study on Deceased Cases and Controls

Neuroepidemiology, 2010

We investigated the use of mobile or cordless phones and the risk for malignant brain tumors in a group of deceased cases. Most previous studies have either left out deceased cases of brain tumors or matched them to living controls and therefore a study matching deceased cases to deceased controls is warranted. Recall error is one issue since it has been claimed that increased risks reported in some studies could be due to cases blaming mobile phones as a cause of the disease. This should be of less importance for deceased cases and if cancer controls are used. In this study brain tumor cases aged 20–80 years diagnosed during 1997–2003 that had died before inclusion in our previous studies on the same topic were included. Two control groups were used: one with controls that had died from another type of cancer than brain tumor and one with controls that had died from other diseases. Exposure was assessed by a questionnaire sent to the next-of-kin for both cases and controls. Replies...

Mobile phone use and risk of glioma in 5 North European countries

… Journal of Cancer, 2007

Public concern has been expressed about the possible adverse health effects of mobile telephones, mainly related to intracranial tumors. We conducted a population-based case-control study to investigate the relationship between mobile phone use and risk of glioma among 1,521 glioma patients and 3,301 controls. We found no evidence of increased risk of glioma related to regular mobile phone use (odds ratio, OR 5 0.78, 95% confidence interval, CI: 0.68, 0.91). No significant association was found across categories with duration of use, years since first use, cumulative number of calls or cumulative hours of use. When the linear trend was examined, the OR for cumulative hours of mobile phone use was 1.006 (1.002, 1.010) per 100 hr, but no such relationship was found for the years of use or the number of calls. We found no increased risks when analogue and digital phones were analyzed separately. For more than 10 years of mobile phone use reported on the side of the head where the tumor was located, an increased OR of borderline statistical significance (OR 5 1.39, 95% CI 1.01, 1.92, p trend 0.04) was found, whereas similar use on the opposite side of the head resulted in an OR of 0.98 (95% CI 0.71, 1.37). Although our results overall do not indicate an increased risk of glioma in relation to mobile phone use, the possible risk in the most heavily exposed part of the brain with long-term use needs to be explored further before firm conclusions can be drawn. ' 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Case-control study of the association between malignant brain tumours diagnosed between 2007 and 2009 and mobile and cordless phone use

International journal of oncology, 2013

Previous studies have shown a consistent association between long-term use of mobile and cordless phones and glioma and acoustic neuroma, but not for meningioma. When used these phones emit radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs) and the brain is the main target organ for the handheld phone. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified in May, 2011 RF-EMF as a group 2B, i.e. a 'possible' human carcinogen. The aim of this study was to further explore the relationship between especially long-term (>10 years) use of wireless phones and the development of malignant brain tumours. We conducted a new case-control study of brain tumour cases of both genders aged 18-75 years and diagnosed during 2007-2009. One population-based control matched on gender and age (within 5 years) was used to each case. Here, we report on malignant cases including all available controls. Exposures on e.g. use of mobile phones and cordless phones were assessed by a self-ad...