Imperial College London
Alternate

ProfessorPaulElliott

Faculty of Medicine, School of Public Health

Chair in Epidemiology and Public Health Medicine
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 3328p.elliott Website

 
 
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Assistant

 

Miss Jennifer Wells +44 (0)20 7594 3328

 
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Location

 

154Norfolk PlaceSt Mary's Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Auvinen:2019:ije/dyz127,
author = {Auvinen, A and Feychting, M and Ahlbom, A and Hillert, L and Elliott, P and Schuz, J and Kromhout, H and Toledano, MB and Johansen, C and Poulsen, AH and Vermeulen, R and Heinavaara, S and Kojo, K and Tettamanti, G and COSMOS, Study Group},
doi = {ije/dyz127},
journal = {International Journal of Epidemiology},
pages = {1567--1579},
title = {Headache, tinnitus and hearing loss in the international Cohort Study of Mobile Phone Use and Health (COSMOS) in Sweden and Finland},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyz127},
volume = {48},
year = {2019}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - BackgroundMobile phone use and exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) from it have been associated with symptoms in some studies, but the studies have shortcomings and their findings are inconsistent. We conducted a prospective cohort study to assess the association between amount of mobile phone use at baseline and frequency of headache, tinnitus or hearing loss at 4-year follow-up.MethodsThe participants had mobile phone subscriptions with major mobile phone network operators in Sweden (n = 21 049) and Finland (n = 3120), gave consent for obtaining their mobile phone call data from operator records at baseline, and filled in both baseline and follow-up questionnaires on symptoms, potential confounders and further characteristics of their mobile phone use.ResultsThe participants with the highest decile of recorded call-time (average call-time >276 min per week) at baseline showed a weak, suggestive increased frequency of weekly headaches at 4-year follow-up (adjusted odds ratio 1.13, 95% confidence interval 0.95–1.34). There was no obvious gradient of weekly headache with increasing call-time (P trend 0.06). The association of headache with call-time was stronger for the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) network than older Global System for Mobile Telecommunications (GSM) technology, despite the latter involving higher exposure to RF-EMF. Tinnitus and hearing loss showed no association with call-time.ConclusionsPeople using mobile phones most extensively for making or receiving calls at baseline reported weekly headaches slightly more frequently at follow-up than other users, but this finding largely disappeared after adjustment for confounders and was not related to call-time in GSM with higher RF-EMF exposure. Tinnitus and hearing loss were not associated with amount of call-time.
AU  - Auvinen,A
AU  - Feychting,M
AU  - Ahlbom,A
AU  - Hillert,L
AU  - Elliott,P
AU  - Schuz,J
AU  - Kromhout,H
AU  - Toledano,MB
AU  - Johansen,C
AU  - Poulsen,AH
AU  - Vermeulen,R
AU  - Heinavaara,S
AU  - Kojo,K
AU  - Tettamanti,G
AU  - COSMOS,Study Group
DO  - ije/dyz127
EP  - 1579
PY  - 2019///
SN  - 1464-3685
SP  - 1567
TI  - Headache, tinnitus and hearing loss in the international Cohort Study of Mobile Phone Use and Health (COSMOS) in Sweden and Finland
T2  - International Journal of Epidemiology
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyz127
UR  - https://academic.oup.com/ije/article/48/5/1567/5532178
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/71500
VL  - 48
ER  -
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