Study type:
Epidemiological study
(observational study)
Mobile telephone use is associated with changes in cognitive function in young adolescents
epidem.
By:
Abramson MJ, Benke GP, Dimitriadis C, Inyang IO, Sim MR, Wolfe RS, Croft RJ
Published in: Bioelectromagnetics 2009; 30 (8): 678-686
Aim of study (acc. to author)
Further details
Endpoint/type of risk estimation
Exposure
Assessment
- questionnaire: use of mobile phone, current ownership, current use, age when starting use, average number of calls per week, average number of received calls per week, average number of text messages (SMS) per week
Population
-
Group:
-
Age:
11–14 years
-
Characteristics:
7th grade students of secondary schools
-
Observation period:
2005 - 2006
-
Study location:
Australia (Melbourne)
-
Exclusion criteria:
students with known cognitive disorder and those receiving medication known to impair or alter cognitive function
Study size
| Type |
Value |
| Total |
479 |
| Participants |
317 |
| Participation rate |
66 % |
Statistical analysis method:
- multiple linear regression analysis
(
adjustment:
- age
- sex
- socioeconomic status
- ethnicity (languages other than English spoken at home). handedness and school
)
Results (acc. to author)
299 children (94 %) had used a mobile phone and 243 (77 %) had their own phones.
Students who reported more voice calls per week demonstrated shorter response times for the simple and associative learning tasks but less accurate responses to the working memory and associative learning tasks. Signal detection and movement monitoring/estimation were not related to the total number of calls per week. The completion time for Stroop test was longer for those students reporting more mobile phone calls. The findings were similar for total SMS messages per weak suggesting these cognitive changes were unlikely due to radiofrequency exposure.
The authors concluded that mobile phone use was associated with faster and less accurate responding to higher level cognitive tasks. Theses behaviours may have been learned through frequent use of a mobile phone.
Study funded by
-
Australian Centre for Radiofrequency Bioeffects
-
National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), Australia
Comments on this article
-
Lin JC
(2010):
Cognitive Changes in Children from Frequent Use of Cell Phones
-
Lin JC
(2010):
Acquired Cognitive Behavior Changes in Children from Cell-Phone Use [Health Effects]
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