Original:

The Relationship between Phone use and Brain Tumors

Yu-xiao Liu, Guo-qing Li, Xiang-ping Fu, Jing-hui Xue, Shou-ping Ji, Zhi-wen Zhang, Yi Zhang, An-ming Li. 2015. Exposure to 3G mobile phone signals does not affect the biological features of brain tumor cells. BMC Public Health. 15:764

The relationship between phone use and the growth of brain tumors is one that is unclear. Phones emit high frequency electromagnetic fields that may or may not affect tumor growth and function. This study aimed to find whether or not brain tumor cells being constantly bombarded with a type of 3G waves would induce a faster formation of tumor cells, stop them from dying, and/or increase the growth rate. There were 4 groups used, a control group, and 3 experimental groups exposed to the 3G waves for 12, 24, and 48 hours.

After the data was recorded, it was seen that there was no difference between the control group and the experimental groups with regards to tumor growth rate or apoptosis. Furthermore, cells were uncompromised even after exposure for 48 hours. There was also no difference in the morphology of the cells in any group, meaning no structural changes were induced. Another factor uninfluenced was rate of becoming malignant.

The researchers of the study are very trustworthy. They are members of a research team that includes 7 PHDs and medical doctors. There is no real bias that can be detected from this study. As members of the neurosurgery department, they  can be seen to have an obvious interest in the field, but they wouldn’t profit from either possible results.

I plan on using this article in my literature review as proof that there is no link between brain tumors and phone use. It takes the topic a little further by also studying the effect on tumor cells, which may or may not be included in the final paper.

Stefan Lönn, the Swedish Interphone Study Group, Anders Ahlbom, the Swedish Interphone Study Group, Per Hall, the Swedish Interphone Study Group, Maria Feychting, the Swedish Interphone Study Group. 2005. Long-tTerm mMobile pPhone uUse and bBrain tTumor rRisk. Am J Epidemiol. 161(6): 526–535

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that long-term mobile phone use increases the risk of brain tumors. The authors identified all cases aged 20–69 years who were diagnosed with glioma or meningioma during 2000–2002 in certain parts of Sweden. Randomly selected controls were stratified on age, gender, and residential area. Detailed information about mobile phone use was collected from 371 glioma and 273 meningioma cases and 674 controls.

For regular mobile phone use, the results were found for more than 10 years’ duration of mobile phone use, with no risk increase being found for for tumors located in the temporal and parietal lobes. Furthermore, the odds of developing tumors didn’t increase with phone use, no matter how long the phones were used and what types of phones were used.

This study is very trustworthy. It was shared by the World health Organization in a press release. I plan on using this article as further proof that there is no link between phones and brain tumors.

Final Version:

The Correlation between Phone use and Brain Tumors

Lehrer S, Green S, Stock R.G. 2011. Association between number of cell phone contracts and brain tumor incidence in nineteen U.S. states. J Neuro-Oncol. [Internet] [cited 2019 Apr 15]; 101:55. Available from https://doi.org/10.1007/s11060-010-0280-z

This article further examines the issue of phone use and brain tumor incidence. Rather than experimentally looking at the data, it uses previously published work and runs statistical analyses to come to a conclusion. The study used information gathered from the “Statistical Report: Primary Brain Tumors in the United States” and data collected on phone subscriptions in the United States during the year 2007. The researches performed multiple linear regressions, plotting cell phone subscriptions, family income, age, and population against the incidence of brain tumors. The results of the linear regression showed a very high correlation between the number of cell phone subscriptions and the number of brain tumors (r = 0.95) . All of the other factors plotted showed no relationship with brain tumor incidence. The results found can be seen as somewhat troubling, as even though potential confounding variables are controlled, there is still a link between the number of cell phones used in an area and the number of brain tumors. It is still possible that there are other lurking variables really causing the increase in brain tumors, so further studies are needed.

After researching the authors, there is no reason to believe that there is any bias present in the research paper. All three authors are radiation oncologists affiliated with Mount Sinai, a well-known hospital. The results of the study show that there should be a decrease in phone usage, and none of these doctors have any ties to organizations or companies that would want to decrease phone use. Furthermore, the first author, Steven Lehrer, has over 70 different publications in the field of cancer and tumors, so he is very knowledgeable on the subject. Since this is a peer-reviewed work as well, it has been accepted by other exerts in the field, and there should be no reason for me to have a problem with the observational study. I plan on using this article in the beginning of my literature review. It is the only article with data supporting the idea that mobile phone use can be linked to cancer. I can then use the other three articles to counter this.

Liu Y, Li G, Fu X, Xue J, Ji S, Zhang Z, Zhang Y, Li A. 2015. Exposure to 3G mobile phone signals does not affect the biological features of brain tumor cells. BMC Public Health. [Internet]. [cited 2019 Apr 15]; 15:764. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-015-1996-7

The relationship between phone use and the growth of brain tumors is one that is unclear. Phones emit high frequency electromagnetic fields that may or may not affect tumor growth and function. This study aimed to find whether or not brain tumor cells being constantly bombarded with a type of 3G waves would induce a faster formation of tumor cells, stop them from dying, and/or increase the growth rate. There were four groups used, a control group, and three experimental groups exposed to the 3G waves for 12, 24, and 48 hours.

After the data were recorded, it was seen that there was no difference between the control group and the experimental groups with regards to tumor growth rate or apoptosis. Furthermore, cells were uncompromised even after exposure for 48 hours. There was also no difference in the morphology of the cells in any group, meaning no structural changes were induced. Another factor uninfluenced was rate of the cells becoming malignant.

The researchers of the study are very trustworthy, part of a team with members of very high credentials. There is no real bias that can be detected from this study. As members of the neurosurgery department, they have an obvious interest in the field, but they wouldn’t profit from either possible results.

I plan on using this article in my literature review as proof that there is no link between brain tumors and phone use. It takes the topic a little further by also studying the effect on tumor cells, showing that there really is no effect on our cells. This will probably be included towards the end of the literature review, as it makes sense to talk about other effects at the end.

Lönn S, the Swedish INTERPHONE Study Group, Ahlbom A, Hall P, Feychting M. 2005. Long-term mobile phone use and brain tumor risk. Am J Epidemiol. [Internet] [cited 2019 Apr 15]; 161(6): 526–535. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwi091

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that long-term mobile phone use increases the risk of brain tumors and increases the progression of tumors. As technology progresses, humans find themselves exposed to electromagnetic radiation both willingly and unwillingly, and there have been concerns that the radio waves emitted by phones can be linked to cancer. There is one study saying that ionizing radiation can cause brain tumors, but the results are disputed, so the researchers of this study aimed to find more conclusive data.

The researchers of this study found all cases of two types of cancer that occured in Sweden between 2000 and 2002, a total of 644. The researchers then randomly selected 674 controls to eliminate any confounding that could occur, and the results were tabulated.

The results of the study showed that even with ten years of phone use, there was no increased risk of being diagnosed with tumors located in the temporal and parietal lobes. Furthermore, the chances of developing tumors didn’t increase with phone use, no matter how long the phones were used and what types of phones were used.

This study is very trustworthy. It was shared by the World health Organization in a press release. The WHO is part of the United Nations, and thus is very reputable. They would definitely make sure any information disseminated by them is correct, so this study can be trusted.  I plan on using this article as further proof that there is no link between phones and brain tumors, showing the long term scale of phone use.

Takebayashi T, Varsier N, Kikuchi Y, Wake K, Taki M, Watanabe S, Akiba S, Yamaguchi N. 2008. Mobile phone use, exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic field, and brain tumour: a case–control study Brit J Cancer. [Internet] [cited 2019 Apr 15]; 98:652–659. Available from https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bjc.6604214

In determining whether or not increased phone use puts people at risk of developing brain tumors, the way in which the absorption of electromagnetic waves from phones should be measured is unclear. The researchers of this study took a novel approach to measure the amount of EMF radiation absorbed by brain tumor patients. After administering surveys to brain tumor patients in Japan, they used information such as which side of the head patients hold their phone to while talking on the phone and how many hours in one year since the diagnosis of the tumor have members of the study spent talking on the phone to approximate how much radiation could have been absorbed by cells where the tumor is located. They took into account how far away cells would be from the phone when looking three dimensionally. The researchers concluded that mobile phone use does not add to the risk of one developing a brain tumor. Furthermore, they found no correlation between how much one uses their phone and the risk of developing a brain tumor.

The authors of the study have an appropriate background for the study where there are no red flags raised about them participating in the study. Half of the researchers are affiliated with public health departments, while the other half are affiliated with electrical engineering departments. This study was very careful to eliminate potential biases and was done thoroughly, so I believe that it is trustworthy. The authors controlled over 600 different variables to eliminate potential confounding variables. Even though there may be recall bias because of patients not knowing exact amount of phone use, it is not too hard to estimate. I plan to use this article to further the empirical evidence that there is no link between mobile phone use and brain tumors. It is similar to the Swedish INTERPHONE study but takes it a step further by using the novel approach, so the two will be compared.