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Cellular Telephone Use and the Risk of Brain Tumors: Update of the UK Million Women Study

2022 · No effect · Moderate evidence

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No effectModerate evidencePaper 858

During 14 years of follow-up among 776,156 women, 3,268 incident brain tumors were registered. Adjusted relative risks for ever vs never mobile phone use were 0.97 (95% CI 0.90–1.04) for all brain tumors and 0.89 (95% CI 0.80–0.99) for glioma; risks for menin…

Study snapshot

Publicationmanual · 2022
Study typecohort
Reported directionNo effect
Evidence ratingModerate

Abstract

Cellular Telephone Use and the Risk of Brain Tumors: Update of the UK Million Women Study Joachim Schüz, Kirstin Pirie, Gillian K Reeves, Sarah Floud, Valerie Beral, for the Million Women Study Collaborators. Cellular Telephone Use and the Risk of Brain Tumors: Update of the UK Million Women Study. JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 2022, djac042, doi: 10.1093/jnci/djac042. Abstract The ongoing debate of whether use of cellular telephones increases the risk of developing a brain tumor was recently fueled by the launch of the fifth generation of wireless technologies. Here, we update follow-up of a large-scale prospective study on the association between cellular telephone use and brain tumors.During 1996- 2001, 1.3 million women born in 1935-1950 were recruited into the study. Questions on cellular telephone use were first asked in median year 2001 and again in median year 2011. All study participants were followed via record linkage to National Health Services databases on deaths and cancer registrations (including nonmalignant brain tumors).During 14 years follow-up of 776 156 women who completed the 2001 questionnaire, a total of 3268 incident brain tumors were registered. Adjusted relative risks for ever vs never cellular telephone use were 0.97 (95% confidence interval = 0.90 to 1.04) for all brain tumors, 0.89 (95% confidence interval = 0.80 to 0.99) for glioma, and not statistically significantly different to 1.0 for meningioma, pituitary tumors, and acoustic neuroma. Compared with never-users, no statistically significant associations were found, overall or by tumor subtype, for daily cellular telephone use or for having used cellular telephones for at least 10 years. Taking use in 2011 as baseline, there were no statistically significant associations with talking for at least 20 minutes per week or with at least 10 years use. For gliomas occurring in the temporal and parietal lobes, the parts of the brain most likely to be exposed to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields from cellular telephones, relative risks were slightly below 1.0.Our findings support the accumulating evidence that cellular telephone use under usual conditions does not increase brain tumor incidence. Open access paper: doi.org For a critique of this paper see: saferemr.com

Machine Enhanced Logic

AI evidence extraction

Structured fields below were generated from the paper’s abstract and metadata to make the evidence easier to inspect. Automated extraction may be incomplete or incorrect; verify important details against the original paper.

Study typecohort
Effect directionno_effect
PopulationWomen born 1935–1950 in the UK Million Women Study
Sample size776156
ExposureRF · Assessed in questionnaires (median 2001; again median 2011); analyses included daily use, ≥10 years use, and (2011 baseline) talking ≥20 minutes/week
Evidence strengthModerateConfidence: 78% · Peer reviewed: yes

Main findings

During 14 years of follow-up among 776,156 women, 3,268 incident brain tumors were registered. Adjusted relative risks for ever vs never mobile phone use were 0.97 (95% CI 0.90–1.04) for all brain tumors and 0.89 (95% CI 0.80–0.99) for glioma; risks for meningioma, pituitary tumors, and acoustic neuroma were not statistically significantly different from 1.0. No statistically significant associations were found for daily use, ≥10 years use, or (using 2011 as baseline) talking ≥20 minutes/week or ≥10 years use; gliomas in temporal/parietal lobes had relative risks slightly below 1.0.

Outcomes measured

  • Incident brain tumors (including nonmalignant)
  • Glioma
  • Meningioma
  • Pituitary tumors
  • Acoustic neuroma
  • Glioma by brain lobe (temporal, parietal)

Limitations

  • Exposure assessed by self-report questionnaires (no objective RF exposure metrics reported in abstract)
  • Frequency/SAR and other technical exposure parameters not reported in abstract
  • Abstract does not report detailed confounder adjustment set or potential exposure misclassification
View raw extracted JSON
{
  "study_type": "cohort",
  "exposure": {
    "band": "RF",
    "source": "mobile phone",
    "frequency_mhz": null,
    "sar_wkg": null,
    "duration": "Assessed in questionnaires (median 2001; again median 2011); analyses included daily use, ≥10 years use, and (2011 baseline) talking ≥20 minutes/week"
  },
  "population": "Women born 1935–1950 in the UK Million Women Study",
  "sample_size": 776156,
  "outcomes": [
    "Incident brain tumors (including nonmalignant)",
    "Glioma",
    "Meningioma",
    "Pituitary tumors",
    "Acoustic neuroma",
    "Glioma by brain lobe (temporal, parietal)"
  ],
  "main_findings": "During 14 years of follow-up among 776,156 women, 3,268 incident brain tumors were registered. Adjusted relative risks for ever vs never mobile phone use were 0.97 (95% CI 0.90–1.04) for all brain tumors and 0.89 (95% CI 0.80–0.99) for glioma; risks for meningioma, pituitary tumors, and acoustic neuroma were not statistically significantly different from 1.0. No statistically significant associations were found for daily use, ≥10 years use, or (using 2011 as baseline) talking ≥20 minutes/week or ≥10 years use; gliomas in temporal/parietal lobes had relative risks slightly below 1.0.",
  "effect_direction": "no_effect",
  "limitations": [
    "Exposure assessed by self-report questionnaires (no objective RF exposure metrics reported in abstract)",
    "Frequency/SAR and other technical exposure parameters not reported in abstract",
    "Abstract does not report detailed confounder adjustment set or potential exposure misclassification"
  ],
  "evidence_strength": "moderate",
  "confidence": 0.78,
  "peer_reviewed_likely": "yes",
  "keywords": [
    "Million Women Study",
    "prospective cohort",
    "mobile phone",
    "cellular telephone",
    "radiofrequency electromagnetic fields",
    "brain tumors",
    "glioma",
    "meningioma",
    "acoustic neuroma",
    "pituitary tumor"
  ],
  "suggested_hubs": [
    {
      "slug": "who-icnirp",
      "weight": 0.25,
      "reason": "Large epidemiologic evidence on RF/mobile phones and brain tumors relevant to major health risk assessments."
    }
  ]
}
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AI-extracted fields are generated from the abstract and metadata and may be incomplete or incorrect. This material is for informational purposes and is not medical advice.

Identifiers and source

DOI: 10.1093/jnci/djac042
PubMed: Not supplied

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