| Acute health effects by mobile telecommunication among children |
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Topic Acute health effects by mobile telecommunication among children Start 01.1.2006 End 30.06.2008 Project Management Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Institut und Poliklinik für Arbeits-, Sozial und Umweltmedizin Objective The strong increase of mobile telecommunication in the last years resulted in an increased concern in the general public about possible adverse acute health effects caused by the fields of mobile telecommunication. These concerns include the consequences of frequent use of mobile phones as well as living near mobile phone base stations. In this context adverse health effects such as headache, sleep disturbances, nervousness, tinnitus and difficulties in concentration are often reported. The scientific evidence provides no explanation for such associations. Particularly there are no investigations, whether children or adolescents may be particularly susceptible to high frequency electromagnetic fields. The objective of this project is to investigate in a population-based cross-sectional study the association of subjective health effects with individually measured and self-assessed exposure levels of fields of mobile telecommunication among children and adolescents. The study will include 1.500 children aged 8 to 12 years and 1.500 adolescents aged 13 to 17 years. The exposure to high frequency electromagnetic fields will be measured by means of personal dosimeters. Results The cross-sectional study included a representative sample of 1.498 children (8-12 years) and 1.524 adolescents (13-17 years) from four Bavarian towns (Munich, Augsburg, Rosenheim, Landsberg). The following information was gathered via personal computer-assisted interviews among 8-12 year old children and one part of the parents or adolescents: Chronic health complaints Standardized questionnaire on frequency of health complaints in the past 6 months (Headache, irritation, nervousness, dizziness, fear, fatigue, sleeping problems) Acute symptoms Symptom diary at the morning, noon and evening at the day of examination (Headache, Irritation, Nervousness, Dizziness, fatigue, concentration problems) Potential Confounder Quality of life, media consumption, environmental worries, sociodemography, social assistance, Psychological health, problems in school Subjective exposure to mobile telecommunication Information on use of mobile phones and cordless phones on the day of examination and self reported distance to mobile phone base stations Objective exposure to mobile telecommunication networks Individual measurement of exposure to mobile telecommunication networks over a time period of 24 hours by means of personal dosimeter. Determination of the total exposure to mobile telecommunication networks (GSM 900 up and down link, GSM 1800 up and down link, UMTS up and down link, WLAN and cordless phones (DECT)) as well as for specific frequency ranges (GSM 900, GSM 1800 including UMTS and DECT, and WLAN). For the exposure assessment, a combination of the measured frequency bands had to be used because the dosimeter has a low selectivity between the up- and down-link channels. The total exposure was calculated as the mean percentage of the International Reference level during the time being awake and was classified in quartiles. The respective chronic and acute health complaints were dichotomized. By means of a logistic regression model the following main questions were investigated:
In the logistic regression model adjustment was performed for age, gender, level of education, environmental worries and study region. With regard to analyses of objective exposure additional adjustment for the frequency of use of mobile phones, DECT phones or distance to base stations was performed. Further potential confounders like media consumption, problems in school, quality of life, social assistance showed no confounding effects and were thus not considered in the final risk models. The participation rate was 52 %. Parents and adolescents with a higher level of education tended to be more willing to participate as well as those who are more concerned about electromagnetic fields and are more often users of a mobile phone. About 50 % of the participating children and 90 % of the participating adolescents have an own mobile phone, while 85 % of children and adolescents have a cordless phone (DECT) in their household. The mean total exposure to mobile telecommunication networks was appreciably below the legal limits in Germany, on average by 0.18 % of the limit among children and 0.19 % among adolescents. respectively.
More details can be found in the final report, which is available as PDF file in German (3,906 kb). Conclusion The results of the study do not indicate an effect of objective exposure to mobile telecommunication networks on chronic or acute well-being of children or adolescents. In few cases an association between subjective exposure to mobile telecommunication networks and health complaints was found. This underlines the importance of determination of the objective exposure in respective studies. This is the first study measuring exposure to mobile telecommunication networks among children and adolescents. Overall, exposure is very low and far below the reference levels. Publications
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