Maternal cell phone use during pregnancy and child cognition at age 5 years in 3 birth cohorts

2018 · Mixed · Low evidence

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MixedLow evidencePaper 1955

Across three birth cohorts with pooled meta-analysis, no associations were detected between frequency of maternal prenatal cell phone use and child cognition scores at age 5. Scores tended to be slightly lower in the highest frequency category compared with l…

Study snapshot

Publicationmanual · 2018

Study typecohort

Reported directionMixed

Evidence ratingLow

Abstract

Maternal cell phone use during pregnancy and child cognition at age 5 years in 3 birth cohorts Sudan M, Birks LE, Aurrekoetxea JJ, Ferrero A, Gallastegi M, Guxens M, Ha M, Lim H, Olsen J, González-Safont L, Vrijheid M, Kheifets L. Maternal cell phone use during pregnancy and child cognition at age 5 years in 3 birth cohorts.Environ Int. 2018 Nov;120:155-162. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2018.07.043. Highlights • Prenatal maternal cell phone use may be related to child cognition. • Cognition scores are slightly lower in relation to higher frequency use, although imprecise. • The causal mechanisms are unknown at this time. • The association is likely affected by social and behavioral factors. Abstract BACKGROUND: There have been few studies of children's cognitive development in relation to mothers' cell phone use, and most were limited to outcomes at age 3 years or younger. We examined the relationship between maternal cell phone use during pregnancy and cognitive performance in 5-year old children. METHODS: This study included data from 3 birth cohorts: the Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC) (n = 1209), Spanish Environment and Childhood Project (INMA) (n = 1383), and Korean Mothers and Children's Environment Health Study (MOCEH) (n = 497). All cohorts collected information about maternal cell phone use during pregnancy and cognitive performance in children at age 5. We performed linear regression to compute mean differences (MD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) in children's general, verbal, and non-verbal cognition scores comparing frequency of maternal prenatal cell phone use with adjustments for numerous potential confounding factors. Models were computed separately for each cohort and using pooled data in meta-analysis. RESULTS: No associations were detected between frequency of prenatal cell phone use and children's cognition scores. Scores tended to be lower in the highest frequency of use category; MD (95% CI) in general cognition scores were 0.78 (-0.76, 2.33) for none, 0.11 (-0.81, 1.03) for medium, and -0.41 (-1.54, 0.73) for high compared to low frequency of use. This pattern was seen across all cognitive dimensions, but the results were imprecise overall. CONCLUSION: We observed patterns of lower mean cognition scores among children in relation to high frequency maternal prenatal cell phone use. The causal nature and mechanism of this relationship remain unknown. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov Excerpt In this investigation of maternal cell phone use during pregnancy and cognition in children, we observed a pattern of slightly lower mean cognition scores among children at age 5 years in relation to high frequency maternal prenatal cell phone use in pooled data from three different birth cohorts. Patterns were consistent across cognitive dimensions, but the results were imprecise. We cannot conclude that our results reflect an effect of RF from cell phones, nor do our results indicate that maternal cell phone use directly influences child cognition as we still lack a known mechanism for how cell phone exposure may impact cognitive function. Although the magnitude of the mean differences in cognition scores that we observed were slight, and 1- or 2- point differences in scores are unlikely to have a considerable impact on individuals, there may be considerable costs to society associated with a negative shift of population IQ, especially if it is due to a very common exposure (Trasande et al., 2005). Thus, with the ubiquity of cell phone use among parents and children alike, it is clearly important to continue investigations into the possible health and cognitive effects of this exposure, with more studies examining associations related to frequency and duration of cell phone use and additional specific exposure parameters.

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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

PopulationMother–child pairs from 3 birth cohorts (DNBC, INMA, MOCEH); child cognition assessed at age 5 years

Sample size3089

ExposureRF · during pregnancy; categorized by frequency of use (none/low/medium/high)

Evidence strengthLowConfidence: 78% · Peer reviewed: yes

Main findings

Outcomes measured

General cognition score at age 5 years
Verbal cognition score at age 5 years
Non-verbal cognition score at age 5 years

Limitations

Exposure based on reported frequency of maternal cell phone use during pregnancy (no specific RF exposure parameters reported)
Results described as imprecise (wide confidence intervals)
Causal nature/mechanism unknown; association likely affected by social and behavioral factors (potential residual confounding)

View raw extracted JSON

{
  "study_type": "cohort",
  "exposure": {
    "band": "RF",
    "source": "mobile phone",
    "frequency_mhz": null,
    "sar_wkg": null,
    "duration": "during pregnancy; categorized by frequency of use (none/low/medium/high)"
  },
  "population": "Mother–child pairs from 3 birth cohorts (DNBC, INMA, MOCEH); child cognition assessed at age 5 years",
  "sample_size": 3089,
  "outcomes": [
    "General cognition score at age 5 years",
    "Verbal cognition score at age 5 years",
    "Non-verbal cognition score at age 5 years"
  ],
  "main_findings": "Across three birth cohorts with pooled meta-analysis, no associations were detected between frequency of maternal prenatal cell phone use and child cognition scores at age 5. Scores tended to be slightly lower in the highest frequency category compared with low use, but estimates were imprecise (e.g., general cognition MD for high vs low: -0.41, 95% CI -1.54 to 0.73).",
  "effect_direction": "mixed",
  "limitations": [
    "Exposure based on reported frequency of maternal cell phone use during pregnancy (no specific RF exposure parameters reported)",
    "Results described as imprecise (wide confidence intervals)",
    "Causal nature/mechanism unknown; association likely affected by social and behavioral factors (potential residual confounding)"
  ],
  "evidence_strength": "low",
  "confidence": 0.78,
  "peer_reviewed_likely": "yes",
  "keywords": [
    "maternal",
    "pregnancy",
    "prenatal exposure",
    "cell phone use",
    "mobile phone",
    "RF",
    "child cognition",
    "neurodevelopment",
    "birth cohort",
    "meta-analysis",
    "confounding"
  ],
  "suggested_hubs": [
    {
      "slug": "mobile-phones",
      "weight": 0.9,
      "reason": "Examines maternal mobile phone use during pregnancy and child outcomes."
    },
    {
      "slug": "prenatal-exposure",
      "weight": 0.75,
      "reason": "Exposure occurs during pregnancy with child neurodevelopmental assessment."
    }
  ]
}

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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: 10.1016/j.envint.2018.07.043
PubMed: Not supplied

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