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Cancer & Tumors124 citations

Cellular phone use and brain tumor: a meta-analysis.

No Effects Found

Kan P, Simonsen SE, Lyon JL, Kestle JR. · 2007

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Long-term cell phone users (10+ years) showed 25% higher brain tumor risk, highlighting concerns about cumulative EMF exposure over time.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Researchers analyzed nine case-control studies involving over 17,000 people to examine whether cell phone use increases brain tumor risk. They found no overall increased risk for typical users, but discovered a 25% higher risk among people who used cell phones for 10 years or longer. This suggests that while short-term use appears relatively safe, long-term exposure may pose health concerns that require further investigation.

Study Details

We conducted a meta-analysis to examine the effect of cellular phone use on the risk of brain tumor development.

We searched the literature using MEDLINE to locate case-control studies on cellular phone use and br...

Nine case-control studies containing 5,259 cases of primary brain tumors and 12,074 controls were in...

We found no overall increased risk of brain tumors among cellular phone users. The potential elevated risk of brain tumors after long-term cellular phone use awaits confirmation by future studies.

Cite This Study
Kan P, Simonsen SE, Lyon JL, Kestle JR. (2007). Cellular phone use and brain tumor: a meta-analysis. J Neurooncol.86(1):71-78, 2007.
Show BibTeX
@article{p_2007_cellular_phone_use_and_3128,
  author = {Kan P and Simonsen SE and Lyon JL and Kestle JR.},
  title = {Cellular phone use and brain tumor: a meta-analysis.},
  year = {2007},
  
  url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17619826/},
}
PubMed: 17619826

Cited By (124 papers)

View all 124 citing papers on Semantic Scholar

Quick Questions About This Study

The 2007 Kan meta-analysis of over 17,000 people found no overall increased brain tumor risk from cell phone use. However, users with 10+ years of exposure showed a 25% higher risk, suggesting long-term use may pose concerns requiring further study.
Cell phone users with 10+ years of exposure had a 25% higher brain tumor risk according to the Kan 2007 meta-analysis. This finding came from pooling five studies and suggests long-term use may increase risk despite no overall effect.
The Kan 2007 meta-analysis included 5,259 brain tumor cases and 12,074 controls from nine case-control studies. This large dataset of over 17,000 people provided substantial statistical power to detect potential associations with cell phone use.
The Kan 2007 study found no increased brain tumor risk for either analog or digital cell phone users. Both phone types showed similar safety profiles, with no significant difference in cancer risk between the two technologies.
Cell phone users had an overall odds ratio of 0.90 for brain tumors in the Kan 2007 meta-analysis, indicating a 10% lower risk. However, long-term users (10+ years) had an odds ratio of 1.25, showing 25% higher risk.