Heinrich S, Thomas S, Heumann C, von Kries R, Radon K. · 2011
Researchers investigated the association between RF EMF exposure and chronic well-being in 3022 children and adolescents using personal dosimetry. Measured exposure levels were far below ICNIRP reference levels. The most reported chronic symptom was fatigue. No statistically significant association between measured exposure and chronic symptoms was observed. Results do not indicate an association between measured RF EMF exposure and chronic well-being.
Thomée S, Härenstam A, Hagberg M. · 2011
The study included 4156 young adults aged 20-24 who completed questionnaires at baseline and 1-year follow-up. Mobile phone exposure variables included frequency of use and qualitative aspects such as demands on availability, perceived stressfulness of accessibility, being awakened at night, and personal overuse. Cross-sectionally, high mobile phone use was linked to stress, sleep disturbances, and depression symptoms in both sexes; prospectively, high use predicted sleep disturbances and depression symptoms in men and depression symptoms in women, while overuse predicted stress and sleep disturbances in women and high accessibility stress predicted stress, sleep disturbances, and depression symptoms in both sexes.
Mortazavi SM et al. · 2011
Participants were exposed to microwave radiation from a mobile phone for 10 minutes in a real or sham condition and asked if they could sense the exposure. Heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure were monitored during exposure, and no statistically significant differences were found between real and sham conditions. The authors concluded that the findings confirm other provocative studies and suggest a possible role of psychological factors in electromagnetic hypersensitivity.
Buchner K, Eger H. · 2011
Researchers followed 60 participants for one and a half years after a new GSM base station was installed in Rimbach, Bavaria. Adrenaline and noradrenaline levels increased significantly during the first six months, while dopamine levels decreased substantially. Phenylethylamine levels dropped significantly over the study period, and initial neurotransmitter levels were not restored after one and a half years. The effects showed a dose-response relationship and occurred well below current limits for technical RF radiation exposures.
Baliatsas C et al. · 2011
Actual distances to base stations and powerlines were calculated using geo-coding, while perceived proximity and psychological factors were self-reported. Higher self-reported environmental sensitivity most strongly predicted non-specific physical symptoms, while perceived proximity to base stations, lower perceived control, and avoidance behavior were also associated; actual distance showed no significant association.
Panda NK, Modi R, Munjal S, Virk RS. · 2011
The study included one hundred twenty-five long-term mobile phone users (63 GSM and 62 CDMA) and 58 controls who never used mobile phones. Participants underwent audiological tests including pure tone audiometry, tympanometry, DPOAE, ABR, and MLR. GSM and CDMA users had a significantly higher risk of absent DPOAE compared with controls (P < .05). They also had higher speech frequency thresholds and lower MLR wave and Na and Pa amplitudes. More than 3 years of mobile phone use emerged as a risk factor (P < .05), and the damage was bilateral with the same quantum for both GSM and CDMA.
McCarty DE et al. · 2011
He LH, Shi HM, Liu TT, Xu YC, Ye KP, Wang S. · 2011
Researchers exposed adult rats daily to a 50-Hz extremely low frequency magnetic field set to 2 mT, dividing them into a control group, a 1-hour exposure group, and a 4-hour exposure group. After 4 weeks of daily exposure, anxiety-related behaviors were assessed in the open field test and the elevated plus maze, and spatial learning and memory were assessed in the Morris water maze. Rats in the 4-hour group showed increased anxiety-like behaviors, reduced latency to find a hidden platform, and improved long-term memory of the platform's former location, without changes in short-term memory or locomotor activity.
Röösli M, Frei P, Mohler E, Hug K · 2010
The systematic review included 5 randomized human laboratory trials and 12 epidemiological studies. Most of the papers examined self-reported non-specific symptoms of ill-health. Most randomized trials did not detect an association between MPBS radiation and acute symptom development, and sporadic associations lacked a consistent pattern. The authors concluded that evidence for no acute effect up to 10 volts per metre is strong, but data are insufficient for long-term low-level exposure.
Mohler E et al. · 2010
Researchers assessed self-reported sleep disturbances and daytime sleepiness in a random sample of 1,375 residents of Basel, Switzerland. Environmental far-field RF EMF exposure was predicted for each individual using a validated prediction model, and mobile and cordless phone use were also considered. Multivariable regression models adjusted for confounders showed no association between far-field RF EMF exposure and sleep disturbances or excessive daytime sleepiness. The 10% most exposed participants had an estimated risk for sleep disturbances of 1.11 (95% CI: 0.50 to 2.44) and for excessive daytime sleepiness of 0.58 (95% CI: 0.31 to 1.05). Neither mobile phone use nor cordless phone use was associated with decreased sleep quality.
Kowall B, Breckenkamp J, Heyer K, Berg-Beckhoff G. · 2010
Researchers surveyed a random sample of German general practitioners using long and short postal questionnaires about electromagnetic fields and health. 37.3% of short-questionnaire responders and 57.5% of long-questionnaire responders agreed that health complaints can be caused by electromagnetic fields even when legal limits are met. A late responder analysis for the short questionnaire yielded a lower estimate of 29% of general practitioners believing in health-relevant effects of electromagnetic fields. The authors concluded that about a third of German general practitioners associate electromagnetic fields with health complaints and thus deviate considerably from current scientific knowledge.
Khurana VG et al. · 2010
Researchers searched PubMed and identified 10 epidemiological studies on mobile phone base station health effects. Seven studies examined neurobehavioral effects and three studied cancer. Eight of the ten studies reported increased prevalence of adverse neurobehavioral symptoms or cancer in populations living within 500 meters of base stations. None of the studies reported exposures above international guidelines, suggesting guidelines may be inadequate.
Johansson A, Nordin S, Heiden M, Sandström M. · 2010
Researchers assessed symptoms and psychological measures in 45 people with mobile phone-related symptoms and 71 with electromagnetic hypersensitivity, compared with a population-based sample of 106 and a control group of 63 using self-report questionnaires. The electromagnetic hypersensitivity group reported more symptoms overall, both EMF-related and nonrelated; the mobile phone group reported more somatosensory symptoms and the electromagnetic hypersensitivity group more neurasthenic symptoms. In direct comparison the groups differed only on somatization and listlessness; compared with reference groups the MP group had higher exhaustion and depression but not anxiety, somatization, or stress, while the EHS group had higher levels of all conditions except stress.
Hutter HP et al. · 2010
Researchers enrolled 100 consecutive tinnitus patients and matched controls in a case-control study. Mobile phone use was assessed using the Interphone Study protocol and analyzed with conditional logistic regression adjusting for education and urban residence. Regular mobile phone use and cumulative hours were not significantly associated with tinnitus, but use for four years or more showed an odds ratio of 1.95.
Heinrich S, Thomas S, Heumann C, von Kries R, Radon K. · 2010
A population-based cross-sectional study in Germany from 2006 to 2008 generated 24-hour exposure profiles for 1484 children and 1508 adolescents using personal dosimeters. Acute symptoms were assessed twice daily with a symptom diary, and only a few statistically significant associations were found, including higher headache intensity in adolescents with highest morning exposure at noon and higher irritation and concentration problem intensities at bedtime. The authors observed that the few significant results were not consistent over the two time points, could not be confirmed in the top 10% highest exposure group, and concluded the associations likely occurred by chance.
Danker-Hopfe H, Dorn H, Bornkessel C, Sauter C. · 2010
Researchers conducted a double-blind, sham-controlled, randomized cross-over study with 397 residents exposed to GSM base station signals and sham exposure at home for 12 nights. No significant differences in objective or subjective sleep measures were found between real and sham exposure conditions. During sham exposure nights, participants with concerns about health risks from base stations had significantly worse sleep efficiency, wake after sleep onset, and subjective sleep latency than those without concerns. The authors concluded that EMF from base stations did not affect sleep quality, but the presence of base stations themselves may negatively impact sleep.
Thomas S, Heinrich S, von Kries R, Radon K · 2010
Researchers randomly selected 1,498 children and 1,524 adolescents from population registries in four Bavarian cities and measured their RF exposure over 24 hours with personal dosimeters. Mental health behaviour was assessed using the German version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Measured exposure in the highest quartile was associated with overall behavioural problems in adolescents but not in children. Exposure was associated with conduct problems in both children and adolescents.
Panda NK, Jain R, Bakshi J, Munjal S. · 2010
Participants underwent a battery of audiologic investigations including pure-tone audiometry, tympanometry, distortion product otoacoustic emissions, auditory brain responses, and middle latency responses. There was no significant difference between users and controls for any of the audiologic parameters. However, trends for audiologic abnormalities were seen within users, with high-frequency loss and absent distortion product otoacoustic emissions observed with longer duration of use, excessive use, and age over 30 years. The researchers concluded that long-term and intensive mobile phone use may cause inner ear damage, but a larger sample size would be needed for definitive conclusions.
Hardell L, Söderqvist F, Carlberg M, Zetterberg H, Mild KH · 2010
Researchers studied the concentration of β-trace protein in blood in relation to emissions from wireless phones in 62 persons aged 18-30 years. The concentration of β-trace protein decreased with increasing number of years of use of a wireless phone, yielding a negative β coefficient of -0.32 with a 95% confidence interval of -0.60 to -0.04. Cumulative use in hours also gave a negative β coefficient, although not statistically significant. Forty of the 62 persons participated in an experimental study with 30 min exposure to an 890-MHz GSM signal, and no statistically significant change of β-trace protein was found. In a similar study of the remaining 22 participants with no exposure, β-trace protein increased significantly over time, probably due to a relaxed situation.
Augner C et al. · 2010
Researchers tested whether RF-EMF emitted by mobile phone base stations may affect salivary alpha-amylase, immunoglobulin A, and cortisol levels. Fifty-seven participants were randomly allocated to one of three experimental scenarios, and each participant went through five 50-minute exposure sessions. When exposure shifted from low to high in scenario 3, an increase of cortisol was detected, and IgA concentration was not significantly related to the exposure. The researchers suggested that RF-EMF in considerably lower field densities than ICNIRP guidelines may influence certain psychobiological stress markers.
Unknown authors · 2009
The study reviewed recent trends in public health in Sweden using data from official Swedish registries. Population health generally improved during the early 1990s but suddenly started to deteriorate from 1997 onwards. The authors state that this dramatic change is not likely explained only by improved diagnostics and that a connection with increasing GHz radiation exposure cannot be ruled out.
Nam KC, Lee JH, Noh HW, Cha EJ, Kim NH, Kim DW. · 2009
Researchers tested 18 self-reported EHS and 19 non-EHS volunteers with sham and real RF exposure from CDMA cellular phones at 300 mW maximum for half an hour. They measured heart rate, respiration rate, heart rate variability, subjective symptoms, and EMF perception. RF exposure had no effect on physiological parameters or subjective symptoms in either group.
Furubayashi T et al. · 2009
Researchers conducted a double-blind, cross-over study with 11 women reporting mobile phone related symptoms and 43 control women. Participants were exposed to 2.14 GHz W-CDMA fields at 10 V/m for 30 minutes under continuous, intermittent, and sham conditions. The symptom group did not detect real exposure better than controls but reported more discomfort during both real and sham exposure, with no differences in psychological, cognitive, or autonomic measures.
Eltiti S et al. · 2009
Researchers exposed 44 sensitive and 44 matched-control participants to GSM, UMTS, and sham signals for 50 minutes at 10 mW/m2 under double-blind conditions. Participants performed digit symbol substitution, digit span, and mental arithmetic tasks during exposure. Cognitive functioning and physiological measures including blood volume pulse, heart rate, and skin conductance were not affected by exposure.
Schüz J, Waldemar G, Olsen JH, Johansen C. · 2009
Researchers conducted a large nationwide cohort study of mobile phone subscribers whose first subscription was between 1982 and 1995 and followed them through 2003 for central nervous system hospital contacts. Standardized hospitalization ratios were calculated by comparing observed hospital contacts in the cohort to expected numbers in the Danish population. The ratios were increased by 10-20% for migraine and vertigo, showed no association for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, or epilepsy in women, and were decreased by 30-40% for dementia, Parkinson disease, and epilepsy among men.
