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Subjective symptoms related to GSM radiation from mobile phone base stations: a cross-sectional study.

No Effects Found

Gómez-Perretta C, Navarro EA, Segura J, Portolés M. · 2013

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Living closer to cell phone towers increases odds of sleep problems and concentration issues by roughly 50%, even accounting for psychological concerns.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Spanish researchers reanalyzed health data from 88 people living near cell phone towers to see if proximity to the towers correlated with health symptoms. They found that people living closer to cell towers were significantly more likely to report lack of appetite, concentration problems, irritability, and sleep troubles. Even when accounting for people's fears about the towers, the association between proximity and symptoms remained statistically significant.

Study Details

We performed a re-analysis of the data from Navarro et al (2003) in which health symptoms related to microwave exposure from mobile phone base stations (BSs) were explored, including data obtained in a retrospective inquiry about fear of exposure from BSs.

Participants with known illness in 2003 were subsequently disregarded: 88 participants instead of 10...

A statistical method indifferent to the assumption of normality was employed: namely, binary logisti...

This study confirms our preliminary results. We observed that the incidence of most of the symptoms was related to exposure levels-independently of the demographic variables and some possible risk factors. Concerns about adverse effects from exposure, despite being strongly related with sleep disturbances, do not influence the direct association between exposure and sleep.

Cite This Study
Gómez-Perretta C, Navarro EA, Segura J, Portolés M. (2013). Subjective symptoms related to GSM radiation from mobile phone base stations: a cross-sectional study. BMJ Open. 3(12):e003836, 2013. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2013-003836.
Show BibTeX
@article{c_2013_subjective_symptoms_related_to_3041,
  author = {Gómez-Perretta C and Navarro EA and Segura J and Portolés M.},
  title = {Subjective symptoms related to GSM radiation from mobile phone base stations: a cross-sectional study.},
  year = {2013},
  
  url = {https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/3/12/e003836.short},
}

Quick Questions About This Study

Spanish researchers found that people living closer to GSM cell towers were significantly more likely to report lack of appetite and concentration problems. The 2013 study of 88 residents showed these symptoms remained statistically significant even after accounting for people's fears about the towers.
A 2013 cross-sectional study found that proximity to GSM base stations was associated with increased trouble sleeping and irritability. People living closer to cell towers showed statistically significant increases in these symptoms, independent of their concerns about tower health effects.
Research shows that people's concerns about cell tower health effects are strongly related to sleep disturbances, with a 3.12 times higher risk. However, the direct association between tower proximity and sleep problems exists independently of these psychological concerns.
The strongest symptom associations with GSM tower proximity were lack of appetite (58% increased risk), concentration problems (54% increase), irritability (51% increase), and sleep troubles (49% increase). These findings came from analyzing health data of 88 Spanish residents.
Researchers used binary logistic regression and bootstrapping methods to ensure accurate results when studying GSM tower proximity effects. This statistical approach, which doesn't assume normal data distribution, confirmed that exposure remained significant even in multivariate analysis accounting for demographics.