Utility of telephone company records for epidemiologic studies of cellular telephones.
Funch DP, Rothman KJ, Loughlin JE, Dreyer NA · 1996
View Original AbstractThis 1996 study validated phone company records for tracking cellular phone exposure and revealed consistent head-side preferences that affect radiation patterns.
Plain English Summary
Researchers surveyed over 5,000 cellular phone users in 1996 to determine whether phone company billing records could accurately track phone usage for health studies. They found that people's self-reported phone use matched billing records quite well (74% correlation), and discovered that most users consistently favor one side of their head when talking, which affects radiation exposure patterns.
Why This Matters
This foundational study from 1996 established crucial methodology for EMF health research by validating that phone company records could reliably track exposure levels. The finding that 69% of users were primary account holders who used at least 75% of the minutes helped researchers understand exposure patterns in early cellular studies. Perhaps most importantly, the discovery that users consistently favor one side of their head when talking provided early insight into asymmetric radiation exposure patterns that would later become relevant in brain tumor studies. This research laid the groundwork for more sophisticated epidemiological studies by demonstrating that objective exposure data could be obtained from billing records rather than relying solely on user recall.
Exposure Information
Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study.
Study Details
We conducted a survey of over 5,000 telephone users who were customers of one large cellular telephone company covering four major geographical areas. Our primary goal was to assess the utility of ascertaining information on telephone use and type from telephone company records.
We compared information from 3,949 respondents with corresponding data from company billing records.
We found that 48% of the account holders were sole users, and 69% were the primary user, meaning tha...
Show BibTeX
@article{dp_1996_utility_of_telephone_company_2092,
author = {Funch DP and Rothman KJ and Loughlin JE and Dreyer NA},
title = {Utility of telephone company records for epidemiologic studies of cellular telephones.},
year = {1996},
url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8728445/},
}