Abstract
Purpose: This literature review investigated the possible association between the use of mobile phones and brain tumors. Methods: In brief, 11 publications were retrieved from JSTOR, PubMed, Google Scholar and Summon in order to compare the association between the usage of mobile phones in patients with a brain tumor and those without. Papers published in English, and after 2001 were selected for. There was no limit on age, gender, geographical location and type of brain tumor. Results: For regular mobile phone usage, the combined odds ratios (OR) (95% confidence intervals) for three studies are: 1.5 (1.2 - 1.8), 1.3 (0.95 - 1.9), and 1.1 (0.8 - 1.4), respectively. Furthermore, the odds ratio did not increase, regardless of mobile phone use duration. Additionally, Lonn et al. (2005) observed that the risk also did not significantly increase when assessing the laterality (ipsilateral or contralateral) of the tumor in relation to side of head used for the mobile phone. Kan et al. (2007) observed an OR of 1.22 when comparing analog phone to digital phone use. Conclusion: This review concludes that there is no current association between mobile phone use and the development of brain tumors. Although certain studies speak in favor of an increased risk, many are plagued with either: sampling bias, misclassification bias, or issues concerning risk estimates. Further research needs to be done in order to evaluate the long-term effect of mobile phone usage on the risk of developing a brain tumor.
Highlights
In the past 20 years, the use of cellular telephones has increased exponentially in today’s society, with greaterHow to cite this paper: Sawal, N. and Entesab, A.H.M. (2016) Mobile Phone Usage and the Risk of Brain Tumors
The keywords specified to search for the articles include: Cellular phone, Cancer, Tumor, Brain, Mobile phone, Short term, Long term, Cross-sectional, Meta-analysis, Radiofrequencies, Glioma, Meningioma, and Schwannoma
The remaining publications selected assessed the risk of any intracranial tumor with increased mobile phone usage, regardless of gender, age, or race
Summary
In the past 20 years, the use of cellular telephones has increased exponentially in today’s society, with greaterHow to cite this paper: Sawal, N. and Entesab, A.H.M. (2016) Mobile Phone Usage and the Risk of Brain Tumors. (2016) Mobile Phone Usage and the Risk of Brain Tumors. Numerous concerns have been raised regarding the connection between radiofrequency signals emitted from these devices and the possible risk of developing chronic diseases. Current guidelines state that mobile phones emit energy levels far too low to cause any deleterious health effects, there has been growing debate as to whether a relative risk has not been established due to the different levels of exposure when the research is initially conducted. Since early mobile phones were developed with an analog technology, and emitted radiofrequency waves of only 800 - 900 megahertz (Mhz) [2], In recent years, the analog technology has been replaced with a digital technology which utilizes much higher radiofrequencies (ranging up to 2200 Mhz) [2]
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