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Brain & Nervous System288 citations

Subjective symptoms, sleeping problems, and cognitive performance in subjects living near mobile phone base stations.

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Hutter HP, Moshammer H, Wallner P, Kundi M. · 2006

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Some symptoms showed a significant relation to measured power density, with headaches showing the strongest association, even though exposure was far below recommended levels.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Researchers conducted a cross-sectional study of 365 randomly selected inhabitants living near 10 mobile phone base stations in urban and rural areas. High-frequency electromagnetic field strength was measured in the bedrooms of 336 households, and several cognitive tests, wellbeing, and sleep quality were also assessed. Total HF-EMF exposure was far below recommended levels, with a maximum of 4.1 mW/m2, and average power density was 0.05 mW/m2 in the rural area and 0.02 mW/m2 in the urban area. Some symptoms showed a significant relation to measured power density, headaches most strongly, while sleep quality showed no significant effect.

Why This Matters

The study used a cross-sectional design, with randomly selected inhabitants who had lived near the base stations for more than one year. Distances from the antennae ranged from 24 to 600 meters in the rural area and 20 to 250 meters in the urban area. The researchers accounted for confounding variables, including participants' fear of adverse effects from exposure to HF-EMF from the base station, when analyzing symptom associations. Perceptual speed increased with higher exposure levels, while accuracy decreased insignificantly. The researchers stated that effects on wellbeing and performance cannot be ruled out, but that mechanisms of action at these low levels are unknown.

Exposure Details

Power Density
0.000002, 0.000005, 0.00041 mW/cm²

Exposure Context

This study used 0.000002, 0.000005, 0.00041 mW/cm² for radio frequency:

Building Biology guidelines are practitioner-based limits from real-world assessments. BioInitiative Report recommendations are based on peer-reviewed science. Check Your Exposure to compare your own measurements.

Where This Falls on the Concern Scale

Study Exposure Level in ContextStudy Exposure Level in ContextThis study: 0.000002, 0.000005, 0.00041 mW/cm²Extreme Concern - 1,000 µW/m²FCC Limit - 10M µW/m²Effects observed in the Severe Concern range (Building Biology)FCC limit is 500,000 times higher than this level

Study Details

The aim of this study is to investigate Subjective symptoms, sleeping problems, and cognitive performance in subjects living near mobile phone base stations.

In a cross-sectional study of randomly selected inhabitants living in urban and rural areas for more...

Total HF-EMF and exposure related to mobile telecommunication were far below recommended levels (max...

Despite very low exposure to HF-EMF, effects on wellbeing and performance cannot be ruled out, as shown by recently obtained experimental results; however, mechanisms of action at these low levels are unknown.

Cite This Study
Hutter HP, Moshammer H, Wallner P, Kundi M. (2006). Subjective symptoms, sleeping problems, and cognitive performance in subjects living near mobile phone base stations. Occup Environ Med. 63(5):307-313, 2006.
Show BibTeX
@article{hp_2006_subjective_symptoms_sleeping_problems_1040,
  author = {Hutter HP and Moshammer H and Wallner P and Kundi M.},
  title = {Subjective symptoms, sleeping problems, and cognitive performance in subjects living near mobile phone base stations.},
  year = {2006},
  
  url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16621850/},
}
PubMed: 16621850

Cited By (288 papers)

View all 288 citing papers on Semantic Scholar

Quick Questions About This Study

Distance from the antennae ranged from 24 to 600 meters in the rural area and from 20 to 250 meters in the urban area.
Total HF-EMF and exposure related to mobile telecommunication were far below recommended levels, with a maximum measured value of 4.1 mW/m2.
Among the symptoms examined, the association with measured power density was highest for headaches.
There was no significant effect on sleep quality.
The researchers stated that effects on wellbeing and performance cannot be ruled out, but that mechanisms of action at these low levels are unknown.