Case-control study of the association between the use of cellular and cordless telephones and malignant brain tumors diagnosed during 2000-2003

Abstract

We performed a case-control study on the use of cellular and cordless telephones and the risk for brain tumors diagnosed during 2000-2003. We report the results for malignant brain tumors with data from 317 cases (88%) and 692 controls (84%). The use of analog cellular phones yielded odds ratio (OR) of 2.6 and a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 1.5-4.3, increasing to OR=3.5 and 95% CI=2.0-6.4 with a >10-year latency period. Regarding digital cellular telephones, the corresponding results were OR=1.9, 95% CI=1.3-2.7 and OR=3.6, 95% CI=1.7-7.5, respectively. Cordless telephones yielded OR=2.1, 95% CI=1.4-3.0, and with a >10-year latency period, OR=2.9, 95% CI=1.6-5.2. The OR increased with the cumulative number of hours of use and was highest for high-grade astrocytoma. A somewhat increased risk was also found for low-grade astrocytoma and other types of malignant brain tumors, although not significantly so. In multivariate analysis, all three phone types studied showed an increased risk.