Cell Phones and the Risk of Brain Cancer Mortality: A Twenty-Five Year Cross-Country Analysis

Abstract

Background: Research into the connection between cellphones and brain cancer faces several difficulties, including recall bias, accounting for confounding factors, and attempting to identify effects that may only be detectable over multiple decades. Methods: We use data on country-level brain cancer death rates between 1990 and 2012 from the World Health Organization and lagged country-level mobile phone subscription rates from the World Bank to investigate the association between cell phones and brain cancer. We use a measure of mobile phone use that is not subject to recall problems, include controls for other country-level characteristics that may influence the prevalence of brain cancer and its mortality rate and identify effects that may only be detectable in the aggregate and over a period of multiple decades.Results: Mobile phone subscription rates are positively associated with death rates from brain cancer 15 years later [pConclusions: Mobile phone use may be associated with increased risk of brain cancer deaths.Impact: As new data become available, it will be possible to use our methods to connect recent variation in mobile phone use with lagged brain cancer mortality. To err on the side of caution, individuals may want to make greater use of the speaker phone and/or texting options on their cell phones or investigate cell phone cases that may deflect radiation away from their ears.