Maternal cell phone use during pregnancy and child behavioral problems in five birth cohorts.
Birks L, Guxens M, Papadopoulou E, Alexander J, Ballester F, Estarlich M, Gallastegi M, Ha M, Haugen M, Huss A, Kheifets L, Lim H, Olsen J, Santa-Marina L, Sudan M, Vermeulen R, Vrijkotte T, Cardis E, Vrijheid M. · 2017
View Original AbstractThe study found a trend of increasing risk of child hyperactivity/inattention problems with higher maternal cell phone use during pregnancy.
Plain English Summary
Researchers analyzed data from 83,884 mother-child pairs across five birth cohorts in Denmark, Korea, the Netherlands, Norway, and Spain. They categorized maternal cell phone use during pregnancy into none, low, medium, and high based on call frequency reported by mothers. Child behavioral problems were assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire or Child Behavior Checklist at ages 5–7 years. A trend of increasing risk of hyperactivity/inattention problems was observed across cell phone use categories, with odds ratios of 1.11 for medium users and 1.28 for high users. The association was consistent across cohorts and between prospective and retrospective data collection methods.
Why This Matters
The study aimed to assess the association in a multi-national analysis using both prospective and retrospective cell phone use data. About 38.8% of mothers, mostly from the Danish cohort, reported no cell phone use during pregnancy, and their children were less likely to have behavioral problems. The authors caution that uncontrolled confounding may influence both maternal cell phone use and child behavioral problems, making interpretation unclear.
Study Details
This study aimed to assess this association in a multi-national analysis, using data from three cohorts with prospective data on prenatal cell phone use, together with previously published data from two cohorts with retrospectively collected cell phone use data.
We used individual participant data from 83,884 mother-child pairs in the five cohorts from Denmark ...
Overall, 38.8% of mothers, mostly from the Danish cohort, reported no cell phone use during pregnanc...
Maternal cell phone use during pregnancy may be associated with an increased risk for behavioral problems, particularly hyperactivity/inattention problems, in the offspring. The interpretation of these results is unclear as uncontrolled confounding may influence both maternal cell phone use and child behavioral problems.
Show BibTeX
@article{l_2017_maternal_cell_phone_use_1909,
author = {Birks L and Guxens M and Papadopoulou E and Alexander J and Ballester F and Estarlich M and Gallastegi M and Ha M and Haugen M and Huss A and Kheifets L and Lim H and Olsen J and Santa-Marina L and Sudan M and Vermeulen R and Vrijkotte T and Cardis E and Vrijheid M.},
title = {Maternal cell phone use during pregnancy and child behavioral problems in five birth cohorts.},
year = {2017},
url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412016307383},
}