For years, there has been research into the potential link between mobile phone use and brain cancer. Two important studies — one that appeared in 2020 and another just published — provide new information, but they lead to different conclusions. Both studies are considered in this article to give a complete view of the scientific situation.
2020: Meta-Analysis Suggests Increased Risk
In November 2020, a meta-analysis by Choi et al. was published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (MDPI study). The researchers conducted a systematic review of case-control studies to investigate the association between cellular phone use and tumor risk.
Methodology: The study analyzed 46 case-control studies from inception to July 2018.
Key Findings:
- Overall Risk: Regular use of mobile phones was not associated with an increased overall tumor risk.
- High Cumulative Use: Users with a cumulative call time of more than 1,000 hours showed a statistically significant increase in tumor risk.
The meta-analysis suggested evidence linking long-term and heavy mobile phone use to an increased risk of tumors. The authors called for high-quality prospective studies to confirm these findings.
2023: WHO-Commissioned Review Finds No Link
In December 2023, a comprehensive systematic review by Karipidis et al. was published in Environment International(WHO study). Commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO) and led by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), this study is considered the most extensive to date on this topic.
Methodology: The review examined over 5,000 studies published between 1994 and 2021, selecting 46 case-control studies and 16 cohort studies based on scientific rigor.
Key Findings:
- No Association: The review found no evidence linking mobile phone use to brain cancer or other head and neck cancers.
- Duration and Intensity: No association was found with prolonged use (10 years or more) or with the amount of use (number of calls or time spent on the phone).
- Consistency Across Studies: The lack of association remained consistent even in studies focusing on long-term users.
Comparative Analysis
The disparate findings from these studies underscore the complexity of evaluating health risks of mobile phone use. The meta-analysis study in 2020 showed a slightly higher risk of tumors with high use or durantion, especially in certain subgroups. By contrast, the 2023 (WHO-commissioned) review predominantly selected analyses from higher quality studies with more recent data and showed no such association.
The variability in findings might be due to differences in the methodology and study. The 2023 review focused on the strongest studies, filtering out much potential for bias from prior research. Similarly, the continued evolution in phone technology has seen a transformation of the emissions that are generated by mobile phones with newer models producing much lower radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs) levels. Moreover, more accurate measures of exposure may have been used in recent years compared to earlier studies that largely relied on self-reported data.
In Conclusion While earlier studies indicated a potential increased risk of tumors with long-term and heavy mobile phone use, the most recent and comprehensive review to date found no such association. The current consensus among experts leans toward mobile phones not being linked to brain cancer. Most experts agree that mobile phones are probably not associated with brain cancer. However, more research is needed to track long-term effects as technologies and behavior of use continue to change.
Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412024005695