8,700 Studies Reviewed. 87.0% Found Biological Effects. The Evidence is Clear.
Shield Your Body

Note: This study found no significant biological effects under its experimental conditions. We include all studies for scientific completeness.

Symptoms & Sensitivity

Association between exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields assessed by dosimetry and acute symptoms in children and adolescents: a population based cross-sectional study.

No Effects Found

Heinrich S, Thomas S, Heumann C, von Kries R, Radon K · 2010

View Original Abstract
Share:

Personal dosimeter measurements found headaches and concentration problems in highest-exposed children, though researchers attributed findings to chance rather than RF effects.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

German researchers used personal dosimeters to measure radiofrequency radiation exposure in nearly 3,000 children and adolescents over 24 hours, then tracked acute symptoms like headaches and concentration problems. While they found a few statistically significant associations between higher RF exposure and symptoms, the researchers concluded these were likely due to chance rather than actual health effects because the results weren't consistent and disappeared when analyzing the highest-exposed participants separately.

Study Details

The increase in numbers of mobile phone users was accompanied by some concern that exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF EMF) might adversely affect acute health especially in children and adolescents. The authors investigated this potential association using personal dosimeters.

A 24-hour exposure profile of 1484 children and 1508 adolescents was generated in a population-base...

Only few of the large number of investigated associations were found to be statistically significant...

We observed few statistically significant results which are not consistent over the two time points. Furthermore, when the 10% of the participants with the highest exposure are taken into consideration the significant results of the main analysis could not be confirmed. Based on the pattern of these results, we assume that the few observed significant associations are not causal but rather occurred by chance.

Cite This Study
Heinrich S, Thomas S, Heumann C, von Kries R, Radon K (2010). Association between exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields assessed by dosimetry and acute symptoms in children and adolescents: a population based cross-sectional study. Environ Health. 9:75, 2010 .
Show BibTeX
@article{s_2010_association_between_exposure_to_2761,
  author = {Heinrich S and Thomas S and Heumann C and von Kries R and Radon K},
  title = {Association between exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields assessed by dosimetry and acute symptoms in children and adolescents: a population based cross-sectional study.},
  year = {2010},
  doi = {10.1186/1476-069X-9-75},
  url = {https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/1476-069X-9-75},
}
DOI: 10.1186/1476-069X-9-75

Cited By (55 papers)

View all 55 citing papers on Semantic Scholar

Quick Questions About This Study

No, personal dosimeter measurements don't reliably predict RF symptoms in children. A 2010 German study using dosimeters on nearly 3,000 children found only scattered statistical associations between measured radiofrequency exposure and symptoms like headaches, which researchers attributed to chance rather than actual health effects.
No, children with the highest RF exposure levels don't show more health symptoms. When German researchers analyzed the 10% of participants with highest measured radiofrequency exposure, the few significant symptom associations found in the main study group disappeared completely, suggesting no real health connection.
Morning RF exposure doesn't consistently cause afternoon headaches in teenagers. While one 2010 study found adolescents in the highest exposure quartile reported 50% higher headache intensity at noon, researchers concluded this was likely a chance finding due to inconsistent patterns across different time periods.
24-hour RF dosimetry doesn't reliably detect concentration problems in children. German researchers found children with highest afternoon RF exposure reported 55% higher concentration problems at bedtime, but this isolated finding among many tests was considered statistically insignificant and likely due to chance.
Irritation symptoms aren't meaningfully linked to afternoon radiofrequency exposure. While one study found adolescents with highest afternoon RF exposure reported 79% higher evening irritation, researchers dismissed this as a chance occurrence because it wasn't consistent with other time periods or the highest-exposed participants.