Research article summary (published 29 Apr 2008):

Cognitive function and symptoms in adults and adolescents in relation to rf radiation from UMTS base stations.

Full Abstract

There is widespread public concern about the potential adverse health effects of mobile phones in general and their associated base stations in particular. This study was designed to investigate the acute effects of radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic fields (EMF) emitted by the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) mobile phone base stations on human cognitive function and symptoms. Forty adolescents (15-16 years) and 40 adults (25-40 years) were exposed to four conditions: (1) sham, (2) a Continuous Wave (CW) at 2140 MHz, (3) a signal at 2140 MHz modulated as UMTS and (4) UMTS at 2140 MHz including all control features in a randomized, double blinded cross-over design. Each exposure lasted 45 min. During exposure the participants performed different cognitive tasks with the Trail Making B (TMB) test as the main outcome and completed a questionnaire measuring self reported subjective symptoms. No statistically significant differences between the UMTS and sham conditions were found for performance on TMB. For the adults, the estimated difference between UMTS and sham was -3.2% (-9.2%; 2.9%) and for the adolescents 5.5% (-1.1%; 12.2%). No significant changes were found in any of the cognitive tasks. An increase in 'headache rating' was observed when data from the adolescents and adults were combined (P = 0.027), an effect that may be due to differences at baseline. In conclusion, the primary hypothesis that UMTS radiation reduces general performance in the TMB test was not confirmed. However, we suggest that the hypothesis of subjective symptoms and EMF exposure needs further research. (c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Author information

Author/s: Riddervold, Ingunn S (IS); Pedersen, Gert F (GF); Andersen, Niels T (NT); Pedersen, Anders D (AD); Andersen, Jørgen B (JB); Zachariae, Robert (R); Mølhave, Lars (L); Sigsgaard, Torben (T); Kjaergaard, Søren K (SK);

Affiliation: Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Institute of Public Health, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark.

Journal and publication information

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

Journal: Bioelectromagnetics (Bioelectromagnetics), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-May; vol 29 (issue 4) : pp 257-67

Dates: Created 2008/04/10; Completed 2008/05/14;

PMID: 18163423, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

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

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent Adult Body Burden Brain - physiology; radiation effects Cellular Phone Cognition - physiology; radiation effects

Double-Blind Method Female Humans Male Radio Waves Relative Biological Effectiveness

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