Comparison of effects of 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi and mobile phone exposure on human placenta and cord blood

2020 · Mixed · Low evidence

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MixedLow evidencePaper 1521

Study snapshot

Publicationmanual · 2020

Study typecohort

Reported directionMixed

Evidence ratingLow

Abstract

Comparison of effects of 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi and mobile phone exposure on human placenta and cord blood Bektas H, Dasdag S, Bektas MS. Comparison of effects of 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi and mobile phone exposure on human placenta and cord blood. Biotechnology & Biotechnological Equipment. 34(1): 154-162, DOI: 10.1080/13102818.2020.1725639. Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of radiofrequency radiation emitted from Wi-Fi systems and mobile phones on cord blood and placenta. The study included 149 pregnant women who were divided in subgroups: unexposed (control), mobile phone exposed, Wi-Fi exposed and mobile phone plus Wi-Fi exposed groups. Immediately after birth, placenta and cord blood samples were collected and protein carbonyl (PCO), malondialdehyde (MDA), total oxidant status (TOS), total antioxidant status, 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8- OHdG) levels and DNA single strand breaks were analysed. The results of the study showed an increase in 8- OHdG, MDA, PCO and TOS in cord blood and placenta in the group exposed to mobile phones during gestation. However, the group exposed to Wi-Fi did not show alterations in the studied oxidative stress parameters. On the other hand, tail intensity and tail moment of DNA in the mobile phone exposure groups were higher than those in the control and Wi-Fi exposure groups. In conclusion, the results of this study indicated that mobile phone exposure during pregnancy could have an important potential to cause oxidative stress and DNA damage in cord blood and placenta. The results of this study also indicated that combined effects of Wi-Fi plus mobile phone exposure have a higher potential to cause synergistic harmful effects. Excerpts The use of wireless Internet and mobile phones has been increasing rapidly. Nowadays, access points to the internet are present in workplaces, public places, houses, and schools. These sources of RFR are raising the public concern regarding the potential health effects. Possibly, these systems are particularly popular with children and the young population. However, exact proof is not present on whether these RFR systems are harmful or not for humans. Therefore, people, especially pregnant women and children should be cautious around such equipment until there are sufficient data. Some animal studies have recently indicated that RFR exposure during pregnancy induced some adverse effects on infants [13-15]. On the other hand, in a human pregnancy study, it is reported that RFR exposure during pregnancy caused significant changes in some biochemical parameters of cord blood [16]. There is a correlation between radiofrequency and body penetration. When the frequency of the RFR increases, it penetrates less into the body tissues [8]. Consequently, the penetration of 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi should be lower than that of 900, 1800 and 2100 MHz, which are the mobile phone frequencies. On the other hand, there are two frequency zones (around 100 MHz and 1-4 GHz) in which children absorb more RF than adults [8]. However, the strength and distance to sources are very important for the health effects of RFR. As it is known, when RFR moves away from the source, its power density decreases in proportion to 1/d2 (where d2 is the square of the distance to the source). People are exposed to local RFR when talking with mobile phones, whereas RFR emitted from Wi-Fi affects the entire body. It is thought that public exposure levels arising from Wi-Fi are lower than those from mobile phones [8]. Additionally, frequency, power density, distance and physical properties of the biological material (permeability and dielectric constant) are the determinative factors for the interaction between RFR and the biological material. It is also reported that tissues with high water content are more sensitive to RFR than others [9]. Therefore, another issue that needs attention is pregnancy because the body water content increases in pregnancy. It is also verified that RFR has potential to develop some anomalies during pregnancy [10,11]. Additionally, the specific absorption rate (SAR) levels in foetuses exposed to 900 MHz plane waves have been found 14% lower than those of their mothers [12] In our study, the tail moment and tail intensity, which are DNA damage indicators, were found higher in Group 1 (mobile phone only) than in the control group. However, no significant change was observed in the Wi-Fi group (Group 2) in terms of the parameters under discussion. The 8-OHdG level, which is also another oxidative DNA damage indicator, was higher in Group 1 than in the Control. On the other hand, no significant alteration was observed in Group 2 as compared to the control. We also observed differences in the 8-OHDG levels, tail moment and tail intensity between the experimental groups (p<0.001). Therefore, we suggest that RFR emitted from mobile phones was more effective in inducing oxidative DNA damage than RFR emitted from Wi-Fi. On the other hand, the results from our study indicated that Wi-Fi has the potential to contribute to the detrimental effects of mobile phones. In cord blood, the values of TOS and OSI in Groups 1 and 3 were higher than those in the control group (p<0.001), whereas the TAS levels were lower than that in the control (p<0.05). Alterations in TAS, TOS, OSI were not observed in the Wi-Fi exposed group. In placenta, TAS in Group 2 was higher than that in Group 1 (p<0.001), OSI in Group 2 were acquired lower than Group 1. The results obtained from our study showed that the exposure to mobile phones during the gestation period might be able to induce oxidative stress, but exposure to Wi-Fi does not appear to cause oxidative stress. The reason behind this difference may be attributed to absorption and attenuation of RFR emitted from Wi-Fi devices by walls and materials in the vicinity. In addition, mobile phone users are exposed to more RFR in the near field. Known harmful effects of RFR on living organisms depend on some physical characteristics of radiation [7]. The body RF penetration decreases when RF frequency increases [8]. There are some limitations to this study. For example, although all efforts were made to carefully select the participants enrolled in this study, the study design could not possibly exclude all potential effects of other factors on the pregnant women that may have affected the levels of the parameters in this study. However, the confounding factors presented in Tables 1 and 2 indicated that external factors were found statistically insignificant (p>0.05).

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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 directionmixed

PopulationPregnant women (placenta and cord blood collected immediately after birth)

Sample size149

ExposureRF · 2400 MHz · during gestation

Evidence strengthLowConfidence: 74% · Peer reviewed: yes

Main findings

Among 149 pregnant women grouped as control, mobile phone exposed, Wi-Fi exposed, and mobile phone+Wi-Fi exposed, oxidative stress markers (8-OHdG, MDA, PCO, TOS) and DNA damage indicators (tail intensity, tail moment) were higher in the mobile phone exposure groups compared with control and Wi-Fi groups. The Wi-Fi-only group did not show alterations in the studied oxidative stress parameters. The authors conclude that combined Wi-Fi plus mobile phone exposure had a higher potential for synergistic harmful effects than mobile phone exposure alone.

Outcomes measured

Protein carbonyl (PCO)
Malondialdehyde (MDA)
Total oxidant status (TOS)
Total antioxidant status (TAS)
8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG)
DNA single strand breaks (comet assay: tail intensity, tail moment)

Limitations

Observational design; potential confounding factors could not be fully excluded, though reported as statistically insignificant in presented tables (p>0.05).
Exposure metrics (e.g., SAR, power density, distance, usage quantification) not reported in the abstract.

View raw extracted JSON

{
  "study_type": "cohort",
  "exposure": {
    "band": "RF",
    "source": "wi-fi and mobile phone",
    "frequency_mhz": 2400,
    "sar_wkg": null,
    "duration": "during gestation"
  },
  "population": "Pregnant women (placenta and cord blood collected immediately after birth)",
  "sample_size": 149,
  "outcomes": [
    "Protein carbonyl (PCO)",
    "Malondialdehyde (MDA)",
    "Total oxidant status (TOS)",
    "Total antioxidant status (TAS)",
    "8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG)",
    "DNA single strand breaks (comet assay: tail intensity, tail moment)"
  ],
  "main_findings": "Among 149 pregnant women grouped as control, mobile phone exposed, Wi-Fi exposed, and mobile phone+Wi-Fi exposed, oxidative stress markers (8-OHdG, MDA, PCO, TOS) and DNA damage indicators (tail intensity, tail moment) were higher in the mobile phone exposure groups compared with control and Wi-Fi groups. The Wi-Fi-only group did not show alterations in the studied oxidative stress parameters. The authors conclude that combined Wi-Fi plus mobile phone exposure had a higher potential for synergistic harmful effects than mobile phone exposure alone.",
  "effect_direction": "mixed",
  "limitations": [
    "Observational design; potential confounding factors could not be fully excluded, though reported as statistically insignificant in presented tables (p>0.05).",
    "Exposure metrics (e.g., SAR, power density, distance, usage quantification) not reported in the abstract."
  ],
  "evidence_strength": "low",
  "confidence": 0.74,
  "peer_reviewed_likely": "yes",
  "keywords": [
    "pregnancy",
    "placenta",
    "cord blood",
    "mobile phone",
    "Wi-Fi",
    "2.4 GHz",
    "radiofrequency radiation",
    "oxidative stress",
    "DNA damage",
    "8-OHdG",
    "MDA",
    "PCO",
    "TOS",
    "TAS",
    "comet assay"
  ],
  "suggested_hubs": [
    {
      "slug": "school-wi-fi",
      "weight": 0.25,
      "reason": "Study involves Wi‑Fi exposure (2.4 GHz), a topic relevant to Wi‑Fi exposure discussions (including in schools), though the population is pregnant women rather than students."
    }
  ]
}

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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: 10.1080/13102818.2020.1725639
PubMed: Not supplied

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