Comparison of measuring instruments for radiofrequency radiation from mobile telephones in epidemiological studies: implications for exposure assessment.

Full Abstract

The debate on mobile telephone safety continues. Most epidemiological studies investigating health effects of radiofrequency (RF) radiation emitted by mobile phone handsets have been criticised for poor exposure assessment. Most of these studies relied on the historical reconstruction of participants' phone use by questionnaires. Such exposure assessment methods are prone to recall bias resulting in misclassification that may lead to conflicting conclusions. Although there have been some studies using software-modified phones (SMP) for exposure assessment in the literature, until now there is no published work on the use of hardware modified phones (HMPs) or RF dosimeters for studies of mobile phones and health outcomes. We reviewed existing literature on mobile phone epidemiology with particular attention to exposure assessment methods used. Owing to the inherent limitations of these assessment methods, we suggest that the use of HMPs may show promise for more accurate exposure assessment of RF radiation from mobile phones.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Inyang, Imo (I); Benke, Geza (G); McKenzie, Ray (R); Abramson, Michael (M);

Affiliation: Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Review

Journal: Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology (J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Mar; vol 18 (issue 2) : pp 134-41

Dates: Created 2008/02/19; Completed 2008/10/22;

PMID: 17327852, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Radiation Monitoring - instrumentation; methods
Radio Waves - adverse effects
Radiometry - instrumentation; methods
Risk Assessment - methods
Software

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

See 100+ related articles.