Acute effects of the electromagnetic waves emitted by mobile phones on attention in emergency physicians

Altuntaş, Gürkan; Sadoglu, Davut; Ardıç, Şenol; Hakan, Yilmaz; İmamoğlu, Melih; Türedi, Süleyman

doi:10.1016/j.ajem.2017.11.031

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…We measured the concentration World J Emerg Med 2023;14(4):317-321 DOI: 10.5847/wjem.j.1920-8642.2023.071 performance using the d2-test. [21][22][23][24] We used the ninehole-peg test (NHPT) to assess eye-hand coordination and fine motor skills. [25,26] The Borg scale was used to quantify subjective physical exertion.…”

Section: Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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COVID-19: Masks do not influence neurocognitive performance during a shift at the emergency department

Grafeneder¹

2023

World Journal of Emergency Medicine

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The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the widespread mandatory use of personal protective equipment (PPE), including filtering face pieces (FFP). Emergency medical care providers now commonly use this equipment. [1,2] Prior studies indicate that the performance of healthcare providers can be negatively influenced when using such PPE. [3,4] Masks were found to cause headaches, dizziness, and feelings of exhaustion. [5][6][7][8][9] Given these results, FFP class II (FFP2) masks might influence neurocognitive capacity (e.g., attention and concentration) as well as eye-hand coordination and fine motor skills during emergency care. [5,[10][11][12] Recent results support this hypothesis. Using a statewide online questionnaire in Michigan, Arnetz et al [13] reported a direct effect of PPE on cognitive failure in nurses.The majority of previously published studies used surrogates, such as walking on treadmills [14][15][16] or sports [17] to induce stress. Other studies investigated the fit of PPE on functional performance across various occupational domains. [18] Studies investigating healthcare personnel focused on the effects of gloves. [19,20] To our knowledge, no study has investigated the effects of FFP2 masks in real-life emergency medical care settings using standardized psychometric tests. This study aimed to assess the effects of PPE, including FFP2 masks, on neurocognitive performance during patient care at the emergency department (ED). Methods Study design and settingWe conducted this observational study at the ED of a high-volume, tertiary-care academic hospital with approximately 300 patients per day. These include walk-in patients and patients transported by emergency medical services. This study was approved by the local ethics committee and complied with the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Section: Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…None of the participants had experience with the NHPT or a similar test. The number of patients treated during the shift was 22 (IQR: [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26].…”

Section: Characteristics Of Study Subjectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19: Masks do not influence neurocognitive performance during a shift at the emergency department

Grafeneder¹

2023

World Journal of Emergency Medicine

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“…Finally, a recent study was conducted on emergency physicians ( 58 ) to test the effects of an acute exposure to mobile phones on their attention. Participants were randomly assigned to an exposed group or to a non-exposed group, and attentive performance was assessed before and after the acute irradiation.…”

Section: Literature Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exposure to Mobile Phone-Emitted Electromagnetic Fields and Human Attention: No Evidence of a Causal Relationship

Curcio

2018

Front. Public Health

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In the past 20 years of research regarding effects of mobile phone-derived electromagnetic fields (EMFs) on human cognition, attention has been one of the first and most extensively investigated functions. Different domains investigated covered selective, sustained, and divided attention. Here, the most relevant studies on this topic have been reviewed and discussed. A total of 43 studies are reported and summarized: of these, 31 indicated a total absence of statistically significant difference between real and sham signal, 9 showed a partial improvement of attentional performance (mainly increase in speed of performance and/or improvement of accuracy) as a function of real exposure, while the remaining 3 showed inconsistent results (i.e., increased speed in some tasks and slowing in others) or even a worsening in performance (reduced speed and/or deteriorated accuracy). These results are independent of the specific attentional domain investigated. This scenario allows to conclude that there is a substantial lack of evidence about a negative influence of non-ionizing radiations on attention functioning. Nonetheless, published literature is very heterogeneous under the point of view of methodology (type of signal, exposure time, blinding), dosimetry (accurate evaluation of specific absorption rate-SAR or emitted power), and statistical analyses, making arduous a conclusive generalization to everyday life. Some remarks and suggestions regarding future research are proposed.

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Acute effects of the electromagnetic waves emitted by mobile phones on attention in emergency physicians

Cited by 2 publications

References 15 publications

COVID-19: Masks do not influence neurocognitive performance during a shift at the emergency department

COVID-19: Masks do not influence neurocognitive performance during a shift at the emergency department

Exposure to Mobile Phone-Emitted Electromagnetic Fields and Human Attention: No Evidence of a Causal Relationship

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