Mobile phone use and health symptoms in children.
Chiu CT, Chang YH, Chen CC, Ko MC, Li CY. · 2014
View Original AbstractChildren using mobile phones showed 42% higher headache rates and 84% higher skin problems in this 2,000-child study.
Plain English Summary
Researchers surveyed over 2,000 Taiwanese children aged 11-15 to examine whether mobile phone use was linked to health symptoms. They found that children who used mobile phones had 42% higher odds of experiencing headaches and migraines, and 84% higher odds of skin itching compared to non-users. Parents also reported that regular phone users had worse overall health compared to the previous year.
Why This Matters
This large-scale study from Taiwan adds important evidence to concerns about children's mobile phone exposure, particularly because it examined real-world usage patterns rather than laboratory conditions. The 42% increase in headaches and 84% increase in skin problems among phone users represents substantial health impacts that parents should take seriously. What makes this research particularly relevant is that it studied children during the early smartphone era (2009), when exposure levels were likely lower than what today's children experience with more powerful devices and constant connectivity. The researchers' conclusion that children need 'more cautious use' of mobile phones reflects the reality that developing bodies may be more vulnerable to radiofrequency radiation, and today's children will experience decades more cumulative exposure than any generation in human history.
Exposure Information
Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study.
Study Details
To investigate the mobile phone (MP) use for talking in relation to health symptoms among 2042 children aged 11-15 years in Taiwan.
A nationwide, cross-sectional study, using the computer assisted telephone interview (CATI) techniqu...
The overall prevalence of MP use in the past month was estimated at 63.2% [95% confidence interval (...
Although the cross-sectional design precludes the causal inference for the observed association, our study tended to suggest a need for more cautious use of MPs in children, because children are expected to experience a longer lifetime exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) from MPs.
Show BibTeX
@article{ct_2014_mobile_phone_use_and_1981,
author = {Chiu CT and Chang YH and Chen CC and Ko MC and Li CY.},
title = {Mobile phone use and health symptoms in children.},
year = {2014},
url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25115529/},
}