Note: This study found no significant biological effects under its experimental conditions. We include all studies for scientific completeness.
Nocebo as headache trigger: evidence from a sham-controlled provocation study with RF fields.
Stovner LJ, Oftedal G, Straume A, Johnsson A · 2008
View Original AbstractPeople experienced identical 'mobile phone headaches' during both real and fake RF exposures, indicating psychological rather than electromagnetic causes.
Plain English Summary
Norwegian researchers studied 17 people who reported getting headaches from mobile phone use, exposing them to both real radiofrequency (RF) signals and fake exposures in a controlled setting. Participants experienced the same types of headaches whether they were exposed to actual RF fields or just thought they were, suggesting their 'mobile phone headaches' were caused by negative expectations (called the nocebo effect) rather than the electromagnetic fields themselves.
Study Details
To investigate the type and location of headache experienced by participants in one provocation study in order to gain insight into possible causes and mechanisms of the headaches.
Questionnaire about headache, indication on figure of location of headache after exposure, interview...
The 17 participants went through 130 trials (sham or RF exposure). No significant difference existed...
This and other similar studies indicate that headache occurring in connection with mobile phone use is not related to RF fields, and that a nocebo effect is important for this and possibly other headache triggers.
Show BibTeX
@article{lj_2008_nocebo_as_headache_trigger_3424,
author = {Stovner LJ and Oftedal G and Straume A and Johnsson A},
title = {Nocebo as headache trigger: evidence from a sham-controlled provocation study with RF fields.},
year = {2008},
url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18439225/},
}