Mobile Phone Use and Brain Tumors in Children and Adolescents: A Multicenter Case-Control Study

• Published in: JNCI : Journal of the National Cancer Institute Vol. 103; no. 16; pp. 1264 - 1276
• Main Authors: Aydin, Denis, Feychting, Maria, Schüz, Joachim, Tynes, Tore, Andersen, Tina Veje, Schmidt, Lisbeth Samsø, Poulsen, Aslak Harbo, Johansen, Christoffer, Prochazka, Michaela, Lannering, Birgitta, Klæboe, Lars, Eggen, Tone, Jenni, Daniela, Grotzer, Michael, Von der Weid, Nicolas, Kuehni, Claudia E., Röösli, Martin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cary, NC Oxford University Press 17.08.2011; Oxford Publishing Limited (England)
• Subjects: Adolescent; adverse effects; Biological and medical sciences; Brain cancer; Brain Neoplasms; Brain Neoplasms - epidemiology; Brain Neoplasms - etiology; Cancer and Oncology; Cancer och onkologi; Case-Control Studies; Cell Phone - statistics & numerical data; Cellular Phone; Cellular telephones; Child; Childrens health; Confounding Factors (Epidemiology); Denmark; Denmark - epidemiology; Electromagnetic Fields; Electromagnetic Fields - adverse effects; epidemiology; etiology; Female; Glioma; Glioma - epidemiology; Glioma - etiology; Health risk assessment; Humans; Incidence; Male; Medical diagnosis; Medical sciences; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Neurology; Norway; Norway - epidemiology; Odds Ratio; Questionnaires; Registries; Research Design; Risk Assessment; Risk Factors; statistics & numerical data; Surveys and Questionnaires; Sweden; Sweden - epidemiology; Switzerland; Switzerland - epidemiology; Tumors; Tumors of the nervous system. Phacomatoses; Young Adult; Denmark; Sweden; Norway; Scandinavia; Switzerland; Europe; Human; Mobile phone; Nervous system diseases; Multicenter study; Case control study; Epidemiology; Intracranial tumor; Cerebral disorder; Cancerology; Central nervous system disease; Adolescent; Risk factor; Child; Public health
• ISSN: 0027-8874; 1460-2105; 1460-2105
• DOI: 10.1093/jnci/djr244

Background It has been hypothesized that children and adolescents might be more vulnerable to possible health effects from mobile phone exposure than adults. We investigated whether mobile phone use is associated with brain tumor risk among children and adolescents. Methods CEFALO is a multicenter case-control study conducted in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Switzerland that includes all children and adolescents aged 7-19 years who were diagnosed with a brain tumor between 2004 and 2008. We conducted interviews, in person, with 352 case patients (participation rate: 83%) and 646 control subjects (participation rate: 71%) and their parents. Control subjects were randomly selected from population registries and matched by age, sex, and geographical region. We asked about mobile phone use and included mobile phone operator records when available. Odds ratios (ORs) for brain tumor risk and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using conditional logistic regression models. Results Regular users of mobile phones were not statistically significantly more likely to have been diagnosed with brain tumors compared with nonusers (OR = 1.36; 95% CI = 0.92 to 2.02). Children who started to use mobile phones at least 5 years ago were not at increased risk compared with those who had never regularly used mobile phones (OR = 1.26, 95% CI = 0.70 to 2.28). In a subset of study participants for whom operator recorded data were available, brain tumor risk was related to the time elapsed since the mobile phone subscription was started but not to amount of use. No increased risk of brain tumors was observed for brain areas receiving the highest amount of exposure. Conclusion The absence of an exposure-response relationship either in terms of the amount of mobile phone use or by localization of the brain tumor argues against a causal association.