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Cancer & Tumors

Time trend in incidence of malignant neoplasms of the central nervous system in relation to mobile phone use among young people in Japan.

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Sato Y, Kiyohara K, Kojimahara N, Yamaguchi N. · 2016

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Brain cancer increases in young Japanese adults couldn't be explained by mobile phone use patterns, suggesting no clear population-level link.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Japanese researchers analyzed brain cancer rates among young adults from 1993 to 2010 to see if rising mobile phone use could explain increasing cancer incidence. While they found brain cancer rates did increase during this period (ranging from 2.7% to 12.3% annually depending on age and gender), the patterns didn't match what would be expected from mobile phone exposure. The study concluded that heavy mobile phone use cannot explain the overall increase in brain cancers among young Japanese adults.

Study Details

The aim of this study was to examine whether incidence of malignant neoplasms of the central nervous system from 1993 to 2010 has increased among young people in Japan, and whether the increase could be explained by increase in mobile phone use.

Joinpoint regression analysis of incidence data was performed. Subsequently, the expected incidence ...

Annual percent change was 3.9% (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.6-6.3) for men in their 20s from 199...

Patterns in sex-, age-, and period-specific incidence increases are inconsistent with sex-, age-, and period-specific prevalence trends, suggesting the overall incidence increase cannot be explained by heavy mobile phone use.

Cite This Study
Sato Y, Kiyohara K, Kojimahara N, Yamaguchi N. (2016). Time trend in incidence of malignant neoplasms of the central nervous system in relation to mobile phone use among young people in Japan. Bioelectromagnetics. 2016 May 19. doi: 10.1002/bem.21982.
Show BibTeX
@article{y_2016_time_trend_in_incidence_3364,
  author = {Sato Y and Kiyohara K and Kojimahara N and Yamaguchi N. },
  title = {Time trend in incidence of malignant neoplasms of the central nervous system in relation to mobile phone use among young people in Japan.},
  year = {2016},
  
  url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27197787/},
}
PubMed: 27197787

Cited By (19 papers)

Quick Questions About This Study

A 2016 Japanese study found no evidence that mobile phone use causes brain cancer in young adults. While brain cancer rates increased 2.7% to 12.3% annually from 1993-2010, the patterns didn't match what researchers would expect from mobile phone exposure, ruling out phones as the cause.
Brain cancer rates in Japanese young adults rose significantly from 1993-2010, with women in their 20s showing the highest increase at 12.3% annually. However, researchers determined that rising mobile phone use cannot explain these increases based on exposure pattern analysis.
Brain cancer rates in young Japanese adults increased by 0.74 to 0.92 cases per 100,000 people from 1993-2010. Men in their 20s saw 3.9% annual increases, while women in their 20s experienced 12.3% annual increases during this period.
No, heavy mobile phone use cannot explain brain tumor trends in Japan according to 2016 research. The study found that sex, age, and time-specific cancer patterns were inconsistent with mobile phone usage patterns among young Japanese adults from 1993-2010.
If mobile phones caused brain cancer in Japan, researchers expected to see patterns matching phone usage by gender, age, and time period. The 2016 study found actual brain cancer increases didn't follow these expected patterns, eliminating phones as the likely cause.