Mobile phone use and health symptoms in children.
Author: Chiu CT1, Chang YH2, Chen CC3, Ko MC4, Li CY5.
Affiliation:
1Department of Dentistry, Tainan Municipal An-Nan Hospital, China Medical University, Tainan, Taiwan. 2Department of Public Health, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan. 3Department of Health Care Management, National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences, Taipei, Taiwan. 4Department of Health Care Management, National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Surgery, Zhong-Xing Branch of Taipei City Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: mingchung77@gmail.com. 5Department of Public Health, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; Department of Public Health, College of Public Health, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
Conference/Journal: J Formos Med Assoc.
Date published: 2014 Aug 9
Other:
Pages: S0929-6646(14)00207-1 , Special Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.jfma.2014.07.002 , Word Count: 180
BACKGROUND/PURPOSE:
To investigate the mobile phone (MP) use for talking in relation to health symptoms among 2042 children aged 11-15 years in Taiwan.
METHODS:
A nationwide, cross-sectional study, using the computer assisted telephone interview (CATI) technique, was conducted in 2009 to collect information on children's utilization of MPs and the perceived health symptoms reported by their parents.
RESULTS:
The overall prevalence of MP use in the past month was estimated at 63.2% [95% confidence interval (CI) = 61.1-65.3%]. MP use was associated with a significantly increased adjusted odds ratio (AOR) for headaches and migraine (1.42, 95% CI = 1.12-1.81) and skin itches (1.84, 95% CI = 1.47-2.29). Children who regularly used MPs were also considered to have a health status worse than it was 1 year ago (β = 0.27, 95% CI = 0.17-0.37).
CONCLUSION:
Although the cross-sectional design precludes the causal inference for the observed association, our study tended to suggest a need for more cautious use of MPs in children, because children are expected to experience a longer lifetime exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) from MPs.
Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.
KEYWORDS:
cross-sectional study; electromagnetic fields; exposure assessment; radiofrequency; subjective symptoms
PMID: 25115529
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