Swedish study links cell and cordless phone use with glioma

by | 12 Nov, 2014 | Science

The study, published in the journal Pathophysiology, said:

We made a pooled analysis of 2 case-control studies on malignant brain tumours with patients diagnosed during 1997-2003 and 2007-2009. They were aged 20-80 years and 18-75 years, respectively, at the time of diagnosis. Only cases with histopathological verification of the tumour were included. Population-based controls, matched on age and gender, were used. Exposures were assessed by questionnaire. The whole reference group was used in the unconditional regression analysis adjusted for gender, age, year of diagnosis and socio-economic index. In total 1,498 (89%) cases and 3,530 (87%) controls participated. Mobile phone use increased the risk of glioma, OR = 1.3, 95% CI = 1.1-1.6 overall, increasing to OR = 3.0, 95% CI = 1.7-5.2 in the > 25 year latency group. Use of cordless phones increased the risk to OR = 1.4, 95% CI = 1.1-1.7, with highest risk in the >15-20 year latency group yielding OR = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.1-2.5. The OR increased statistically significant both per 100 h of cumulative use, and per year of latency for mobile and cordless phone use. Highest ORs overall were found for ipsilateral mobile or cordless phone use, OR = 1.8, 95% CI = 1.4-2.2 and OR = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.3-2.1, respectively. The highest risk was found for glioma in the temporal lobe. First use of mobile or cordless phone before the age of 20 gave higher OR for glioma than in later age groups.

The study can be found here:
L. Hardell, M. Carlberg, Cell and cordless phone risk forglioma – Analysis of pooled case-control studies in Sweden, 1997-2003 and 2007-2009,Pathophysiology(2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pathophys.2014.10.001

A similar study from France published in May suggested:

No association with brain tumours was observed when comparing regular mobile phone users with non-users

but

positive association was statistically significant in the heaviest users when considering life-long cumulative duration […]

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