Abstract
BackgroundWith the rapid increasing use of third generation (3 G) mobile phones, social concerns have arisen concerning the possible health effects of radio frequency-electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs) emitted by wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) mobile phones in humans. The number of people, who complain of various symptoms such as headache, dizziness, and fatigue, has also increased. Recently, the importance of researches on teenagers has been on the rise. However, very few provocation studies have examined the health effects of WCDMA mobile phone radiation on teenagers.MethodsIn this double-blind study, two volunteer groups of 26 adults and 26 teenagers were simultaneously investigated by measuring physiological changes in heart rate, respiration rate, and heart rate variability for autonomic nervous system (ANS), eight subjective symptoms, and perception of RF-EMFs during sham and real exposure sessions to verify its effects on adults and teenagers. Experiments were conducted using a dummy phone containing a WCDMA module (average power, 250 mW at 1950 MHz; specific absorption rate, 1.57 W/kg) within a headset placed on the head for 32 min.ResultsShort-term WCDMA RF-EMFs generated no significant changes in ANS, subjective symptoms or the percentages of those who believed they were being exposed in either group.ConclusionsConsidering the analyzed physiological data, the subjective symptoms surveyed, and the percentages of those who believed they were being exposed, 32 min of RF radiation emitted by WCDMA mobile phones demonstrated no effects in either adult or teenager subjects.
Highlights
With the rapid increasing use of third generation (3 G) mobile phones, social concerns have arisen concerning the possible health effects of radio frequency-electromagnetic fields (RF-Electromagnetic field (EMF)) emitted by wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) mobile phones in humans
In contrast to many other studies that have examined certain aspects of physiological changes, subjective symptoms, or perception respectively, this study investigated simultaneously these three factors to more reliably examine the bio-effects of WCDMA mobile phone radiation on two groups, especially teenagers
Physiological variables Heart rate, respiration rate, and low-frequency power (LFP)/Highfrequency power (HFP) ratios of the adult and teenager groups during real and sham exposures are shown in the top section of Table 3
Summary
With the rapid increasing use of third generation (3 G) mobile phones, social concerns have arisen concerning the possible health effects of radio frequency-electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs) emitted by wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) mobile phones in humans. WHO considered the RF-EMFs provocation studies on children of different ages to be a high-priority research in Lindholm et al [5] monitored local cerebral blood flow during exposure to Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) mobile phone radiation in a teenager group (14 – 15 years old) They measured electrocardiogram (ECG), blood pressure, and temperature simultaneously. Kwon et al [9] investigated the effects of GSM mobile phone use on the auditory sensory memory in 17 children (11 – 12 years old) They found that a short exposure to mobile phone EMF had no statistically significant effects on the neural change-detection profile measured with mismatch negativity. Such studies as mentioned above have examined the effects of GSM mobile phone on teenagers or children, there are a few studies investigating about the effects of WCDMA mobile phone radiation on children or teenagers
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