Cellular
phones and cancer, braintumor
Increased chance of braintumor
using Cellular and Cordless phones
Pooled analysis of two case-control
studies on the use of cellular and cordless telephones and the risk of benign brain
tumours diagnosed during 1997-2003 Int J Oncol. 2006 Feb;28(2):509-18.
Hardell L, Carlberg M, Hansson Mild K.
Department of Oncology, University Hospital, SE-701 85 Orebro, Sweden.
lennart.hardell@orebroll.se.
The use of cellular and cordless telephones and the risk of brain tumours is of concern
since the brain is a high exposure area. We present the results of a pooled analysis of
two case-control studies on benign brain tumours diagnosed during 1997-2003 including
answers from 1,254 (88%) cases and 2,162 (89%) controls aged 20-80 years. For acoustic
neuroma, the use of analogue cellular phones gave an odds ratio (OR) of 2.9 and a 95%
confidence interval (CI) of 2.0-4.3; for digital cellular phones, OR=1.5; 95% CI=1.1-2.1;
and for cordless telephones, OR=1.5, 95% CI=1.04-2.0. The highest OR was found for
analogue phones with a latency period of >15 years; OR=3.8, 95% CI=1.4-10. Regarding
meningioma, the results were as follows: for analogue phones, OR=1.3, 95% CI=0.99-1.7; for
digital phones, OR=1.1, 95% CI=0.9-1.3; and for cordless phones, OR=1.1, 95% CI=0.9-1.4.
In the multivariate analysis, a significantly increased risk of acoustic neuroma was found
with the use of analogue phones.
PMID: 16391807
Mobile phone use and risk of
acoustic neuroma: results of the Interphone case-control study in five North European
countries
There is public concern that use of
mobile phones could increase the risk of brain tumours. If such an effect exists, acoustic
neuroma would be of particular concern because of the proximity of the acoustic nerve to
the handset. We conducted, to a shared protocol, six population-based case-control studies
in four Nordic countries and the UK to assess the risk of acoustic neuroma in relation to
mobile phone use. Data were collected by personal interview from 678 cases of acoustic
neuroma and 3553 controls. The risk of acoustic neuroma in relation to regular mobile
phone use in the pooled data set was not raised (odds ratio (OR)=0.9, 95% confidence
interval (CI): 0.7-1.1). There was no association of risk with duration of use, lifetime
cumulative hours of use or number of calls, for phone use overall or for analogue or
digital phones separately. Risk of a tumour on the same side of the head as
reported phone use was raised for use for 10 years or longer (OR=1.8, 95% CI: 1.1-3.1).
The study suggests that there is no substantial risk of acoustic neuroma in the first
decade after starting mobile phone use. However, an increase in risk after longer term use
or after a longer lag period could not be ruled out.
British Journal of Cancer (2005) 93,
842-848.
doi:10.1038/sj.bjc.6602764 Published online 30 August 2005
M J Schoemaker1, A J Swerdlow1, A
Ahlbom2,13, A Auvinen3,10, K G Blaasaas4, E Cardis5, H Collatz Christensen6, M Feychting2,
S J Hepworth7, C Johansen6, L Klćboe8, S Lönn2, P A McKinney7, K Muir9, J Raitanen10, T
Salminen3, J Thomsen11 and T Tynes8,12
1 Section of Epidemiology, Institute
of Cancer Research, Brookes Lawley Building, Sutton SM2 5NG, UK
2 Institute of Environmental
Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Box 210, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden
3 STUK-Radiation and Nuclear Safety
Authority, 00881 Helsinki, Finland
4 Norwegian Armed Forces, Bygning
0028A, Sessvollmoen 2058, Norway
5 International Agency for Research
on Cancer, 150 Cours Albert Thomas, 69372 Cedex 08, Lyon, France
6 Institute of Cancer Epidemiology,
Danish Cancer Society, Strandboulevarden 49, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
7 Centre for Epidemiology and
Biostatistics, University of Leeds, 30 Hyde Terrace, Leeds LS2 9LN, UK
8 The Cancer Registry of Norway,
Institute of Population-based Cancer Research, Montebello, 0310 Oslo, Norway
9 Division of Epidemiology and Public
Health, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK
10 Tampere School of Public Health,
University of Tampere, Tampere 33014, Finland
11 Department of Otolaryngology-Head
and Neck Surgery, Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, DK-2900 Hellerup, Denmark
12 Norwegian Radiation Protection
Authority, PO Box 55, 1332 Osteras, Norway |
