The Effect of a Single 30-Min Long Term Evolution Mobile Phone-Like Exposure on Thermal Pain Threshold of Young Healthy Volunteers

2018 · No effect · Moderate evidence

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No effectModerate evidencePaper 2043

In this experiment, the authors did not find any effects of a single 30-minute LTE mobile phone-like RF-EMF exposure on thermal pain threshold compared with sham.

Study snapshot

Publicationmanual · 2018

Study typerandomized_trial

Reported directionNo effect

Evidence ratingModerate

Abstract

The Effect of a Single 30-Min Long Term Evolution Mobile Phone-Like Exposure on Thermal Pain Threshold of Young Healthy Volunteers Vecsei Z, Thuróczy G, Hernádi I. The Effect of a Single 30-Min Long Term Evolution Mobile Phone-Like Exposure on Thermal Pain Threshold of Young Healthy Volunteers. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018 Aug 27;15(9). pii: E1849. doi: 10.3390/ijerph15091849. Abstract Although the majority of mobile phone (MP) users do not attribute adverse effects on health or well-being to MP-emitted radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic fields (EMFs), the exponential increase in the number of RF devices necessitates continuing research aimed at the objective investigation of such concerns. Here we investigated the effects of acute exposure from Long Term Evolution (LTE) MP EMFs on thermal pain threshold in healthy young adults. We use a protocol that was validated in a previous study in a capsaicin-induced hyperalgesia model and was also successfully used to show that exposure from an RF source mimicking a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) MP led to mildly stronger desensitization to repeated noxious thermal stimulation relative to the sham condition. Using the same experimental design, we did not find any effects of LTE exposure on thermal pain threshold. The present results, contrary to previous evidence obtained with the UMTS modulation, are likely to originate from placebo/nocebo effects and are unrelated to the brief acute LTE EMF exposure itself. The fact that this is dissimilar to our previous results on UMTS exposure implies that RF modulations might differentially affect pain perception and points to the necessity of further research on the topic. Open access paper: mdpi.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 typerandomized_trial

Effect directionno_effect

Populationyoung healthy volunteers (healthy young adults)

Sample sizeNot supplied

ExposureRF · single 30-min exposure

Evidence strengthModerateConfidence: 74% · Peer reviewed: yes

Main findings

In this experiment, the authors did not find any effects of a single 30-minute LTE mobile phone-like RF-EMF exposure on thermal pain threshold compared with sham.

Outcomes measured

thermal pain threshold
pain perception/desensitization to repeated noxious thermal stimulation

Limitations

Frequency and SAR not reported in the provided abstract/metadata
Sample size not reported in the provided abstract/metadata
Only acute (single 30-minute) exposure assessed

View raw extracted JSON

{
  "study_type": "randomized_trial",
  "exposure": {
    "band": "RF",
    "source": "mobile phone",
    "frequency_mhz": null,
    "sar_wkg": null,
    "duration": "single 30-min exposure"
  },
  "population": "young healthy volunteers (healthy young adults)",
  "sample_size": null,
  "outcomes": [
    "thermal pain threshold",
    "pain perception/desensitization to repeated noxious thermal stimulation"
  ],
  "main_findings": "In this experiment, the authors did not find any effects of a single 30-minute LTE mobile phone-like RF-EMF exposure on thermal pain threshold compared with sham.",
  "effect_direction": "no_effect",
  "limitations": [
    "Frequency and SAR not reported in the provided abstract/metadata",
    "Sample size not reported in the provided abstract/metadata",
    "Only acute (single 30-minute) exposure assessed"
  ],
  "evidence_strength": "moderate",
  "confidence": 0.74,
  "peer_reviewed_likely": "yes",
  "keywords": [
    "LTE",
    "Long Term Evolution",
    "mobile phone",
    "radiofrequency",
    "RF-EMF",
    "thermal pain threshold",
    "healthy volunteers",
    "sham exposure",
    "placebo/nocebo"
  ],
  "suggested_hubs": []
}

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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: 10.3390/ijerph15091849
PubMed: Not supplied

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