The expanding use of mobile phones causes concerns about increasing the risk of brain cancer. Scientists who conducted a large study on the long term effects of mobile phones on the brain published their findings in the “International Journal of Epidemiology.” Results indicated that mobile phones do not raise the risk of brain cancer. However, authors did report a slight increase in a certain type of brain cancer among the highest users of mobile phones.
Interphone Study Group
The Interphone Study Group, conducted in 13 countries around the world, focused on four types of tumors, including two brain tumors called glioma and meningioma. Study coordinators interviewed 5100 brain cancer patients to analyze their mobile phone use. The main objective of the study was to determine whether mobile phone use increases the risk of these tumors.
Meningioma
This study included 2409 people with meningioma. According to the Mayo Clinic, meningioma is a tumor that arises from the meninges—the membranes that surround your brain and spinal cord. The majority of meningioma cases are noncancerous (benign), though rarely a meningioma can be cancerous (malignant). Study authors concluded that mobile phone users showed no signs of increased risk of getting meningioma.
Glioma
The Interphone study also included 2708 subjects with glioma. Glioma is a cancer of the brain that begins in the glial cells that surround and support nerve cells in the brain.
Results from the study showed that the risk of glioma did increase with a subset of users. This increase in glioma was only associated with heavy users of mobile phones.
Study results showed that on average, people generally spent about 2 to 2½ hours per month on the phone and 10 percent of users, considered heavy users, spent about a half hour per day on the phone.
Decrease in Cancer
The Interphone study results also showed an apparent decreased risk of meningioma and glioma for regular mobile users compared with “never regular users” or non-users of mobiles. This would suggest that mobile phones protect against brain cancer. Oddly, even though this has been seen in other studies the authors of this study suggest this finding is flawed.
When analyzing cell phone use, study coordinators relied on study participant’s memory of their cell phone use. Memory is not the most reliable source for collecting scientific data.
More Research Needed
The possibility of raised risk of glioma in heavy users of mobile phones is an important issue. The amount of time spent on mobile phones today, especially in young people, has doubled in comparison to the time spent on mobile phones during the study period.
The good news is that new mobile phones emit less radiofrequency electromagnetic fields, which are thought to cause cancer. Also, the ever-increasing use of texting and hands-free operations in mobile phone use all keep the phone away from the head, further decreasing the risk of getting brain cancer.
According to a statement released by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer, “An increased risk of brain cancer is not established from the data from Interphone. However, observations at the highest level of cumulative call time and the changing patterns of mobile phone use since the period studied by Interphone, particularly in young people, mean that further investigation of mobile phone use and brain cancer risk is merited.”
About this Author
Diane Lanigan has worked as a medical writer for 10 years and developed educational resources on all aspects of medicine for clinicians and patients. She has written books, brochures, multipanel tools, posters, slide sets, web-based interactive programs and continuing medical education programs. Lanigan has a B.Sc. and an M.A. in journalism.
