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What this paper adds The potential association between mobile phone use and brain tumour remains controversial, and original data have mostly been provided by studies performed in Sweden and the international Interphone study.
Some studies suggest that long-term (over 10 years) mobile phone use increases the risk of gliomas, and especially of those with temporal location.
This analysis highlights a positive association between heavy use of mobile phone and brain tumour, considering life-long cumulative duration and number of calls.
Risks were higher for gliomas, temporal tumours, occupational and urban mobile phone use.
This study provides additional data supporting a possible association between heavy mobile phone use and brain tumours.
Introduction
The number of mobile phone subscriptions over the last decade has increased ninefold to reach a startling 6 billion users worldwide in 2011, according to the International Telecommunication Union. From the 1980s, mobile phones have evolved over four different generations, and services have developed very fast (text messaging, internet access, etc). These changes have led to a dramatic growth in mobile phone usage. According to the French Telecommunications and Posts Regulator, the individual mean use for calls in France today is 150 min/month (+27% since 2000), excluding other services and specific usages, such as occupational ones.
The potential carcinogenic effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) remain controversial. In vitro studies have explored various hypotheses including genotoxicity, cell proliferation, apoptosis, gene expression and direct effect on proteins, but there is still no consensus. 1 Owing to direct contact with the head during communications, the potential association between brain tumours and mobile phone use has become a foremost concern.
For 15 years, original data have mostly been provided by case-control studies, including four studies performed in Sweden, 2-6 and the international Interphone study. 7 Only two cohort studies have addressed the issue; one initiated in Denmark in 1982, 8 and one in the UK in 1996 (Million Women Study). 9 Several meta-analyses have also been performed, 10-14 but most of them have been unable to demonstrate any association between regular mobile phone use (yes/no) and brain tumours, A recent meta-analysis performed by Repacholi et al 15 reported no association (OR=1.1; 95% CI 0.9 to 1.3 for gliomas, OR=0.9; 95% CI 0.8 to 1.1 for meningiomas), whatever...