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Brain & Nervous System125 citations

Prevalence of headache among handheld cellular telephone users in singapore: A community study.

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Chia SE, Chia HP, Tan JS · 2000

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Cell phone users show 31% higher headache rates, with hands-free equipment reducing symptoms by over 20%.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Researchers surveyed 808 people in Singapore to compare headache rates between cell phone users and non-users. They found that cell phone users were 31% more likely to experience headaches, with the risk increasing based on daily usage time. Importantly, people who used hands-free equipment had 20% fewer headaches than those who held phones directly to their heads.

Why This Matters

This early community study from Singapore provides compelling evidence that cell phone radiation exposure affects the brain in measurable ways. The dose-response relationship - where longer daily usage correlated with higher headache rates - strengthens the case for a causal connection rather than coincidence. What makes this research particularly valuable is the practical finding about hands-free equipment reducing symptoms by over 20%. This demonstrates that distance from the radiation source matters, which aligns with the physics of how electromagnetic energy dissipates. The study's design, surveying an entire community rather than just patients already experiencing symptoms, gives us a clearer picture of real-world impacts across the general population.

Exposure Information

Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study.

Study Details

We carried out a cross-sectional community study in Singapore to determine the prevalence of specific central nervous system (CNS) symptoms among hand-held cellular telephone (HP) users compared to nonusers and to study the association of risk factors and CNS symptoms among HP users.

A total of 808 men and women between 12 and 70 years of age, who lived in one community, were select...

The prevalence of HP users was 44.8%. Headache was the most prevalent symptom among HP users compare...

Cite This Study
Chia SE, Chia HP, Tan JS (2000). Prevalence of headache among handheld cellular telephone users in singapore: A community study. Environ Health Perspect 108(11):1059-1062, 2000.
Show BibTeX
@article{se_2000_prevalence_of_headache_among_1977,
  author = {Chia SE and Chia HP and Tan JS},
  title = {Prevalence of headache among handheld cellular telephone users in singapore: A community study.},
  year = {2000},
  
  url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11102297/},
}
PubMed: 11102297

Cited By (125 papers)

View all 125 citing papers on Semantic Scholar

Quick Questions About This Study

Yes, a Singapore community study of 808 people found cell phone users were 31% more likely to experience headaches compared to non-users. The headache risk increased with longer daily usage time, making headaches the most prevalent symptom among phone users.
Yes, people who used hands-free equipment had 20% fewer headaches than those who held phones directly to their heads. This Singapore study suggests that keeping the phone away from your head significantly reduces headache risk from cell phone use.
Headache risk increases significantly with longer daily cell phone usage time. The Singapore study found a clear dose-response relationship - the more minutes per day people used their phones, the higher their likelihood of experiencing headaches.
No, this Singapore study of 808 people found that cell phone use was not associated with a significant increase in central nervous system symptoms other than headaches. Headaches were the only neurological symptom clearly linked to phone use.
The 2000 Singapore community study found that 44.8% of residents were handheld phone users. Among this group, headaches were significantly more common compared to the 55.2% of residents who didn't use cell phones regularly.