Meningioma and mobile phone use—a collaborative case-control study in five North European countries

• Published in: International journal of epidemiology Vol. 37; no. 6; pp. 1304 - 1313
• Main Authors: Lahkola, A, Salminen, T, Raitanen, J, Heinävaara, S, Schoemaker, MJ, Christensen, H Collatz, Feychting, M, Johansen, C, Klæboe, L, Lönn, S, Swerdlow, AJ, Tynes, T, Auvinen, A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford University Press 01.12.2008; Oxford Publishing Limited (England)
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Biological and medical sciences; brain neoplasms; Case-Control Studies; Cell Phone; cellular phones; Denmark; Female; Finland; Humans; Logistic Models; Male; Medical sciences; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Meningeal Neoplasms - etiology; Meningioma - etiology; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; Neurology; Norway; Odds Ratio; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Radio Waves - adverse effects; Risk; Sweden; Time Factors; Tumors of the nervous system. Phacomatoses; United Kingdom; Young Adult; Europe; brain neoplasms; cellular phones; case-control studies; Brain; Mobile phone; Nervous system diseases; Use; Central nervous system; Case control study; Epidemiology; Encephalon; North; Benign neoplasm; Meningioma; Public health
• ISSN: 0300-5771; 1464-3685; 1464-3685
• DOI: 10.1093/ije/dyn155

Background Use of mobile telephones has been suggested as a possible risk factor for intracranial tumours. To evaluate the effect of mobile phones on risk of meningioma, we carried out an international, collaborative case-control study of 1209 meningioma cases and 3299 population-based controls. Methods Population-based cases were identified, mostly from hospitals, and controls from national population registers and general practitioners’ patient lists. Detailed history of mobile phone use was obtained by personal interview. Regular mobile phone use (at least once a week for at least 6 months), duration of use, cumulative number and hours of use, and several other indicators of mobile phone use were assessed in relation to meningioma risk using conditional logistic regression with strata defined by age, sex, country and region. Results Risk of meningioma among regular users of mobile phones was apparently lower than among never or non-regular users (odds ratio, OR = 0.76, 95% confidence interval, CI 0.65, 0.89). The risk was not increased in relation to years since first use, lifetime years of use, cumulative hours of use or cumulative number of calls. The findings were similar regardless of telephone network type (analogue/digital), age or sex. Conclusions Our results do not provide support for an association between mobile phone use and risk of meningioma.