For years, there've been fears that frequent and longstanding use of cell phones posed a risk of brain cancer. Now, after decades of studies and disputed claims, the World Health Organization (WHO) says they don't.
But don't rush to pick your phone up just yet. A new Canadian study finds that regular cell phone use is "positively associated" with heart disease, especially in smokers and patients with diabetes.
In the WHO review, researchers said that even though the phones are generally held next to the head, there was no evidence of increased risk of brain cancer in regular mobile phone users. The latest study is based on a large base of studies and could put to rest fears raised by earlier studies that seemed to suggest the possiblity of harm.
The review considered more than 5,000 studies, of which 63, published between 1994 and 2022, were included in the final analysis. No association between mobile phone use and brain cancer, or any other head or neck cancer, was found.
Heart disease in phone users
The Canadian study, on the other hand, found evidence suggesting that radio frequencies emitted by mobile phones "cause dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, inflammatory responses, and oxidative stress, and are therefore expected to affect a variety of organs such as the heart and blood vessels," according to Yanjun Zhang, MD, Division of Nephrology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
"However, whether mobile phone use is associated with the risk of cardiovascular diseases remains uncertain," Zhang added.
The large study included 444,027 individuals from the UK Biobank without a history of cardiovascular diseases who self-reported on the frequency of their mobile phone use from 2006 to 2010. Regular mobile phone use was defined as at least one call per week.
The association was partly attributed to poor sleep, psychological distress, and neuroticism
Using linked hospital and mortality records, the composite outcome of incident stroke, coronary heart disease, atrial fibrillation, and heart failure was ascertained over a median followup time of 12.3 years. Researchers also investigated the role of sleep patterns, psychological distress, and neuroticism.
So what's the message to consumers? As is so often the case, it may come down to using moderation in all things.
"Maintaining responsible mobile phone habits should be a valuable component of an all-encompassing approach to supporting cardiovascular health," said Nicholas Grubic of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, in an editorial accompanyiing the study. "Before diving into hours of mindless ’doom-scrolling’ on your smartphone today, consider redirecting this time toward a more heart-healthy activity."
