Cellular Telephone Use and the Cancer Risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Background: Over the past decades, the mobile phone has become a commonplace and an important communication tool for people in everyday life. However, there is much discussion surrounding the potential harm caused by the non-ionizing radiation (also referred to as radio frequency (RF) energy) emitted by mobile phones. This radiation, similar to that emitted by microwave ovens, is a controversial topic in academic circles, especially regarding whether the use of mobile phones increases or decreases the risk of certain tumors. Methods: To accumulate data, we conducted a comprehensive literature review (using the keywords: 'phone', 'telephone', 'cancer', 'tumor', 'carcinoma' and 'risk') of the following databases/search engines: PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase and Google-Scholar. The search embraces information published before May 2022. All case-control studies examining the relationship between the use of mobile phones and tumors were included. The included papers were evaluated and thoroughly analyzed and those with homogeneity were subjected to meta-analysis using R software. Results: Our initial search yielded 107 published articles. However, after application of our exclusion criteria, only 29 case-control studies were included in our final dataset. Meta analysis showed that regular use of mobile phones was associated with decreased risk of brain tumors, OR = 0.88 (95% CI: 0.84-0.91); however, the risk of head and neck cancer (HNC) increased with regular use of mobile phones, OR = 1.24 (95% CI: 1.08-1.42). In addition, regular use of mobile phones was associated with reduced risk of cancer in general, OR = 0.90 (95% CI: 0.87-0.94). Conclusion: Our findings do not suggest that regular use of mobile phones reduces the risk of cancer (especially brain tumors) or increases the risk of parotid gland tumors, necessarily. In the future study of mobile phones and cancer risk, we would recommend that researchers control for confounding factors in tumors, such as education and economics, and maintain a longer-term follow-up period.