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January 20, 2006

Brain Tumor Risk Not Elevated by Cell Phones, Study Finds

By Glenn Fleishman

A large study in the UK finds no elevated risk of a common brain tumor from cell phone use: In a retrospective study in which researchers from several institutions in England interviewed nearly 3,000 people, they found that cell phone use does not appear to bring an elevated risk of brain tumors. 966 people in the group had glioma; 1,716 did not. Respondents were queried about cell phone use over the last 10 years.

Researchers found that in the group with glioma, there was an elevated risk of their tumors appearing on the side of the head which the interview subject said they most frequently used their cell phone. But they found an equivalent decreased risk on the other side of the head, leading to the conclusion of reporting bias: people knew which side their tumor was on.

Because many glioma sufferers perish quickly, a group quoted in this BBC article note that there may be a bias toward longer-surviving cancer sufferers. All parties agree more research is needed, especially on long-term use of cell phones. But this study confirms a number of others in recent years that, while they cannot show there is no risk, have demonstrated no increased risk.

Posted by Glennf at January 20, 2006 10:14 AM

Categories: Health

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