Research - Epidemiological - Cell Phone Studies

Studies examining cell phone use:

A) Brain cancer (Glioma ± Meningioma, unless otherwise stated)

Hardell (1999, 2000, 2002a,b, 2003a,b, 2005a,b, 2006a,b,c)
Inskip (2001)
Muscat (2000, 2002)
Auvinen (2002)
Christensen (2004) - Acoustic neuroma (Interphone study)
Lonn (2004) - Acoustic neuroma (Interphone study)
Lonn (2005) - Interphone study
Christensen (2005) – Interphone study
Schoemaker (2005) - Acoustic neuroma (Interphone study)
Hepworth (2006) - Interphone study
Schuz (2006a) - Interphone study
Takebayashi (2006) - Acoustic neuroma (Interphone study)
Klaeboe (2007) - Interphone study
Lahkola (2007) - Interphone study
Schlehofer (2007) - Acoustic neuroma (Interphone study)
Hours (2007) - Interphone study

B) Other cancer

Johansen (2001) - all cancers
Johansen (2002) - malignant melanoma of the eye
Warren (2003) - facial nerve tumour
Hardell (2004) - salivary gland tumour
Lonn (2006) - salivary gland tumour (Interphone study)
Linet (2006) - non-Hodgkin lymphoma
Schuz (2006b) - all cancers - cordless phones (Interphone study)
Hardell (2006) - testicular tumour

Table 1: The Table below summarizes these studies (apart from Johansen 2002, which was an ecological study, and those that dealt exclusively with acoustic neuroma, which are considered in Table 2):

Reference

Study type, population,
and size

Exposure type Identification

Cancer type

Risk estimates
(95% CIs)

Hardell 1999

Case-control
209 cases
425 controls

Cell phone use
Phone interview

Brain tumour

0.98 (0.69-1.41)

Hardell 2000

As above

As above + other exposures

Temporo-parietal-occipital tumours

2.62 (1.02-6.71)
on same side
as cell phone use

Muscat 2000

Case-control
469 cases
422 controls

Cell phone useInterview

Brain tumour

0.85 (0.6-1.2)

Inskip 2001

Case-control
782 cases
799 controls

Cell phone useInterview

Brain tumour

1.0 (0.6-1.5)

Johansen2001

Cohort
420,095

List of cell phone subscribers

All cancers
Brain tumour
Leukaemia

0.89 (0.86-0.92)
0.95 (0.81-1.12)
0.97 (0.78-1.21)

Auvinen2002

Case-control
398 cases
5 controls per case

List of cell phone subscribers

Brain tumours
Salivary gland

1.3 (0.9-1.9)
1.3 (0.9-4.7)

Hardell
2002 a,b
2003 a,b

Case-control
1303 matched pairs

Interview

Brain
tumour
Temporal, on same side as cell phone use
Acoustic neuroma

1.3 (1.02-1.6) - analogue
2.5 (1.3-4.9)
3.5 (1.8-6.8)

Warren
2003

Case-control 18 cases 192 controls

Phone interview

Intratemporal facial nerve tumour

0.6 (0.2-1.9)

Hardell 2004

Case-control 267 cases, 4 controls per case

Questionnaire, supplemented by phone interview

Salivary gland tumour

0.92 (0.58-1.44) - analogue
1.01 (0.68-1.50) - digital

Lonn 2005

Case-control 371 glioma 273 meningioma 674 controls

Personal interview, some by phone or paper qu'aire

Glioma
= 10 yrs

Meningioma
= 10 yrs

0.8 (0.6-1.0)
0.9 (0.5-1.6)

0.7 (0.5-0.9)
0.7 (0.3-1.6)

Christensen 2005

Case-control 252 glioma 175 meningioma 822 controls

Personal interviews

Glioma Meningioma

0.71 (0.50-1.01)
0.83 (0.54-1.28)

Hardell 2005

Case control 1429 cases 1470 controls

Qu'aire plus phone interview if necessary

Brain tumour(=10 yrs exposure) Rural areas Urban areas

3.2 (1.2-8.4)
0.9 (0.6-1.4)

Hepworth
2006

Case control
966 cases
1716 controls

Personal interview

Glioma
= 10 yrs

0.94 (0.78-1.13)
0.90 (0.63-1.28)

Hardell 2006b

Case-control
359 cases
692 controls

Qu'aire plus phone interview if necessary

Malignant brain tumour

2.6 (1.5-4.3) - analogue
1.9 (1.3-2.7) -digital
2.1 (1.4-3.0) - cordless

Schuz 2006

Case-control
366 glioma
381 meningioma
Controls 1:2 ratio

Personal interview

Glioma
= 10 yrs (12 cases)
Meningioma

0.98 (0.74-1.29)
2.20 (0.94-5.11)
0.84 (0.62-1.13)

Hardell 2006c

Case control
905 cases
2162 controls

Qu'aire plus phone interview if necessary

Malignant brain tumour, multivariate analysis for > 10 years use

1.9 (1.4-2.6)
analogue
1.9 (0.98-3.8)
digital
1.3 (0.8-2.0)
Cordless

Schuz 2006

Cohort

List of cell phone subscribers All cancers

Brain tumour
Acoustic neuroma

0.95 (0.93-0.97)
0.97
0.73

Klaeboe 2007

Case control
289 glioma
207 meningioma
358 controls

Personal interview + phone interview if necessary

Glioma
= 6 years (55 cases
Meningioma

0.6 (0.4-0.9)
0.8 (0.5-1.2)

0.8 (0.5-1.1)

Lahkola 2007

Case control 1521 glioma cases

3301 controls

Personal interview + phone interview if necessary

Glioma regular use

Ipsilateral ≥ 10 years

0.78 (0.7-0.9)

1.39 (1.01-1.92)

Hours 2007

Case control
96 glioma cases, 96 controls

145 meningioma cases, 145 controls

Personal interview

Glioma
Ipsilateral

Meningioma

1.15 (0.65-2.05)
1.15 (0.55-2.43)

0.74 (0.43-1.28)

Acoustic neuroma: This is a tumour of the auditory nerve, and is also known as acoustic neurilemoma or vestibular schwannoma. It is a benign tumour and has slow growth. Its incidence is in the range of 1 - 20 per million population per year (Christensen 2004). It manifests itself by hearing loss, dizziness, and tinnitus (a ringing in the ears). There have been a number of studies that have examined the association between this tumour and cell phone use, and these are summarised below. Most have very few cases that have used cell phones for 10 years or more. Hardell's study is unusual in that an increased risk was reported in those with > 5 years use.

Table 2: Studies of Acoustic neuroma.

Author	# of cases	OR any use	OR>5	OR>10	Comment
Inskip 2001	96	0,8			Very few cases with > 5 yrs use
Muscat 2002	90	0.9			For 3-6 yrs use (n = 11), OR 1.7 (0.5-5.1)
Hardell 2002	38	3.5 (1.8-6.8)	(n = 26) 3.7 (1.6-8.6)	(n = 7) 3.5 (0.7-16.8)
Christensen 2004	106	0.9	(n = 17) 0.86	(n = 2) 0.22	Ipsilateral use: OR = 0.68
Lonn 2004	148	1.0	(n = 30) (5-9 yrs) 1.1	(n = 14) 1.9 (0.9-4.1)	Ipsilateral use: OR 1.1; for 5-9 yrs 1.1; for > 10 yrs 3.9 (1.6-9.5) Contralateral use: 0.9 for all durations
Schoemaker 2005	678	0.9	0.9	1.1 (0.7-1.8)	Ipsilateral use: OR = 0.9; for >10 years since first use, OR = 1.3; OR for >10 lifetime years of use = 1.8 (1.1-3.1)
Hardell 2005	84	Anal 2.1 Dig 1.4	(n=11) 5-10 years: 2.4 (n=23) 2.0	(n=7) 1.5 (0.6-3.6) (n=1) 0.5
Takebayashi 2006	101	0.73	(n=19) 1.09 (0.58-2.06)	(n=1)	Ipsilateral use: OR=0.9
Schlehofer 2007	97	0.67 (0.38-1.19)	(n=8) 0.53 (0.22-1.27)	0	OR for persistent noise exposure = 2.31 (1.15-4.66); for hay fever = 2.20 (1.09-4.45)
Hours 2007	109	0.92 (0.53-1.59)	0	0	Ipsilateral use 0.62 (0.32-1.20)

Figures in parentheses after ORs represent 95% confidence intervals.
Schuz (2006), in a cohort study, found a standardized incidence ratio for acoustic neuroma of 0.73 (95% CI = 0.50-1.03

Hardell (2007) summarised the results from two cohort studies and 16 case-control studies of brain tumour risk amongst long-term users of cell phones. They concluded:

"Results from present studies on use of mobile phones for ≥ 10 years give a consistent pattern of an increased risk for acoustic neuroma and glioma. The risk is highest for ipsilateral exposure".

C) Other studies

Chia (2000) - central nervous system complaints
Fejes I (2005) - semen quality
Hallberg (2005) - Alzheimer's disease
Hocking (1998) - general symptoms
Mortazavi (2007) - general symptoms
Oftedal (2000) - general symptoms
Rothman (1996) - mortality rates
Wilen (2003) - general symptoms
Söderquist (2007) - cell phone use in children

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Cellular telephone use and risk of acoustic neuroma
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