Long-term mobile phone use and brain cancer

Conclusion This case-control study found mobile phone use is associated with an increased risk of the commonest type of brain tumour, glioma. But this type of study cannot prove that mobile phone use caused the brain tumours, as it cannot account for confounding factors. Indeed, despite collecting data on variables such as exposure to chemicals and occupation, this information was not taken into account during the statistical analyses. A further limitation of the study was that the extent of mobile phone use was estimated retrospectively up to a 25-year time period. It is highly unlikely these estimates would be accurate because of factors such as memory recall, and patterns of mobile phone usage have changed substantially over the years. There is also the possibility of cases having recall bias after receiving a brain cancer diagnosis and therefore overestimated their mobile usage. Additionally, many of the calculations were based on very small numbers, which reduces the reliability of the findings. This study does not prove that mobile phones cause brain cancer, and the long-term effects of mobile phone use remain unclear. What is clear is that brain tumours are relatively uncommon. While this is a good thing, it means that "proving" what, if any, environmental factors cause them is likely to require a great deal of long-term research effort.  Analysis by Bazian. Edited by NHS Choices. Follow Behind the Headlines on Twitter. Join the Healthy Evidence forum. ...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cancer Source Type: news