Headache, tinnitus and hearing loss in the international Cohort Study of Mobile Phone Use and Health (COSMOS) in Sweden and Finland

Abstract

BackgroundMobile phone use and exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) from it have been associated with symptoms in some studies, but the studies have shortcomings and their findings are inconsistent. We conducted a prospective cohort study to assess the association between amount of mobile phone use at baseline and frequency of headache, tinnitus or hearing loss at 4-year follow-up.MethodsThe participants had mobile phone subscriptions with major mobile phone network operators in Sweden (n = 21 049) and Finland (n = 3120), gave consent for obtaining their mobile phone call data from operator records at baseline, and filled in both baseline and follow-up questionnaires on symptoms, potential confounders and further characteristics of their mobile phone use.ResultsThe participants with the highest decile of recorded call-time (average call-time >276 min per week) at baseline showed a weak, suggestive increased frequency of weekly headaches at 4-year follow-up (adjusted odds ratio 1.13, 95% confidence interval 0.95–1.34). There was no obvious gradient of weekly headache with increasing call-time (P trend 0.06). The association of headache with call-time was stronger for the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) network than older Global System for Mobile Telecommunications (GSM) technology, despite the latter involving higher exposure to RF-EMF. Tinnitus and hearing loss showed no association with call-time.ConclusionsPeople using mobile phones most extensively for making or receiving calls at baseline reported weekly headaches slightly more frequently at follow-up than other users, but this finding largely disappeared after adjustment for confounders and was not related to call-time in GSM with higher RF-EMF exposure. Tinnitus and hearing loss were not associated with amount of call-time.

The Impact of Mobile Phone Use on Tinnitus: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis

“…Out of the eight identified studies, five were cross‐sectional [Mortazavi et al, 2011; Hegde et al, 2013; Redmayne et al, 2013; Küçer and Pamukçu, 2014; Stalin et al, 2016], two were cohort [Frei et al, 2012; Auvinen et al, 2019], and one was a case–control study [Hutter et al, 2010]. One study provided data both for cohort and cross‐sectional designs [Frei et al, 2012].…”

“…Six studies were population‐based [Mortazavi et al, 2011; Frei et al, 2012; Redmayne et al, 2013; Küçer and Pamukçu, 2014; Stalin et al, 2016; Auvinen et al, 2019], while only two were performed in a hospital/clinical setting [Hutter et al, 2010; Hegde et al, 2013]. Two studies included exclusively pediatric populations [Mortazavi et al, 2011; Redmayne et al, 2013], while five studies had exclusively adult populations [Hutter et al, 2010; Frei et al, 2012; Hegde et al, 2013; Stalin et al, 2016; Auvinen et al, 2019], and one study [Küçer and Pamukçu, 2014] included both pediatric and adult subjects. Overall, these studies included 29,093 subjects, of which 16,163 were female, 12,809 were male, and 1 was transgender (one study on 120 subjects did not report the male‐to‐female ratio [Hegde et al, 2013]).…”

“…Overall, these studies included 29,093 subjects, of which 16,163 were female, 12,809 were male, and 1 was transgender (one study on 120 subjects did not report the male‐to‐female ratio [Hegde et al, 2013]). Six studies used self‐reported questionnaires for MP exposure assessment [Hutter et al, 2010; Mortazavi et al, 2011; Hegde et al, 2013; Redmayne et al, 2013; Küçer and Pamukçu, 2014; Stalin et al, 2016], one study used MP operator data only [Auvinen et al, 2019], and another study used both self‐reported questionnaires and MP operator data [Frei et al, 2012]. For the health outcome assessment, the majority of the studies used self‐reported questionnaires.…”

“…For the health outcome assessment, the majority of the studies used self‐reported questionnaires. Only two studies reported the definition of tinnitus used in the study [Hutter et al, 2010; Auvinen et al, 2019]. Detailed information on the study characteristics and methodologies is presented in Tables 1 and 2.…”

An Experimental Study of Effects of Media Implication on Self-Report Symptoms Related With MP Use

“…Moreover, higher scores of depressive symptoms were significantly associated with more frequent physical symptoms, such as headache (26,27), dizziness (28), and fatigue (29,30). However, several studies reported that no such symptoms were found concerning mobile phone radiation and mobile phone use (31)(32)(33).…”