Case-control study on the use of cellular and cordless phones and the risk for malignant brain tumours.
Hardell L, Mild KH, Carlsberg M. · 2002
View Original AbstractPhone use on the same side as brain tumors increased cancer risk by 59-85% in this Swedish study.
Plain English Summary
Swedish researchers studied 649 brain cancer patients and compared their phone use to healthy controls. They found that people who used analog cell phones on the same side of their head where the tumor developed had an 85% higher risk of malignant brain tumors. Digital phones showed a smaller but still significant 59% increased risk when used on the same side as the tumor.
Why This Matters
This 2002 Swedish study represents one of the most methodologically sound investigations into phone radiation and brain cancer risk. What makes these findings particularly compelling is the 'ipsilateral' effect - the increased cancer risk specifically on the side of the head where people held their phones. This spatial relationship suggests a direct biological mechanism rather than coincidence. The science demonstrates that analog phones, which operated at higher power levels, showed the strongest association with brain tumors (85% increased risk), while digital phones still showed significant risk (59% increase). What this means for you is that the closer the radiation source to your brain tissue, the greater the potential harm. The reality is that phone technology has evolved since 2002, but the fundamental physics of radiofrequency radiation absorption by brain tissue remains the same.
Exposure Information
Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study.
Study Details
To investigate the use of cellular and cordless phones and the risk for malignant brain tumours.
A case-control study was performed on 649 patients aged 20-80 years of both sexes with malignant bra...
Exposure was assessed by a questionnaire answered by 588 (91%) cases and 581 (90%) controls. Phone u...
The ipsilateral use of an analogue cellular phone yielded a significantly increased risk for malignant brain tumours.
Show BibTeX
@article{l_2002_casecontrol_study_on_the_2163,
author = {Hardell L and Mild KH and Carlsberg M.},
title = {Case-control study on the use of cellular and cordless phones and the risk for malignant brain tumours.},
year = {2002},
url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12465658/},
}