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Cancer & Tumors345 citations

Handheld cellular telephone use and risk of brain cancer.

No Effects Found

Muscat JE, Malkin MG, Thompson S, Shore RE, Stellman SD, McRee D, Neugut AI, Wynder EL · 2000

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Early cell phone study found no brain cancer link, but exposure periods were too short to detect slow-developing tumors.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Researchers studied 469 brain cancer patients and 422 healthy controls to see if cell phone use increased brain cancer risk. They found no association between handheld cell phone use and brain cancer, even among the heaviest users (over 10 hours per month). However, the study period was relatively short, with users averaging less than 3 years of exposure.

Study Details

To test the hypothesis that using handheld cellular telephones is related to the risk of primary brain cancer.

Case-control study conducted in 5 US academic medical centers between 1994 and 1998 using a structur...

The median monthly hours of use were 2.5 for cases and 2.2 for controls. Compared with patients who ...

Our data suggest that use of handheld cellular telephones is not associated with risk of brain cancer, but further studies are needed to account for longer induction periods, especially for slow-growing tumors with neuronal features.

Cite This Study
Muscat JE, Malkin MG, Thompson S, Shore RE, Stellman SD, McRee D, Neugut AI, Wynder EL (2000). Handheld cellular telephone use and risk of brain cancer. JAMA 284(23):3001-3007, 2000.
Show BibTeX
@article{je_2000_handheld_cellular_telephone_use_3261,
  author = {Muscat JE and Malkin MG and Thompson S and Shore RE and Stellman SD and McRee D and Neugut AI and Wynder EL},
  title = {Handheld cellular telephone use and risk of brain cancer.},
  year = {2000},
  
  url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11122586/},
}
PubMed: 11122586

Cited By (345 papers)

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Quick Questions About This Study

No, a 2000 study of 469 brain cancer patients found no increased risk even among the heaviest users (over 10 hours monthly). However, users averaged less than 3 years of exposure, so longer-term effects remain unknown.
The Muscat study found a borderline trend with more cerebral tumors on the same side as phone use (26 vs 15 cases). However, temporal lobe cancers showed the opposite pattern, making the overall finding inconclusive.
In the 2000 Muscat study, brain cancer patients used cell phones for an average of 2.8 years, while healthy controls averaged 2.7 years. This relatively short exposure period limits conclusions about long-term risks.
No, the Muscat study found reduced risk for most brain cancer types, but neuroepitheliomatous cancers showed a doubled risk (though not statistically significant). Different brain cancer types may respond differently to radiofrequency exposure.
Brain cancer patients used cell phones a median of 2.5 hours monthly, while healthy controls averaged 2.2 hours monthly. This low usage reflects early cell phone adoption patterns before smartphones became widespread.