Mobile phone use and brain tumours in the CERENAT case-control study

Occup Environ Med doi:10.1136/oemed-2013-101754

• Environment

• Original article

Mobile phone use and brain tumours in the CERENAT case-control study

1. Gaëlle Coureau1,2,3, 
2. Ghislaine Bouvier1,2, 
3. Pierre Lebailly4,5,6, 
4. Pascale Fabbro-Peray7,8,
5. Anne Gruber1, 
6. Karen Leffondre2, 
7. Jean-Sebastien Guillamo9, 
8. Hugues Loiseau10,
9. Simone Mathoulin-Pélissier2, 
10. Roger Salamon2,3, 
11. Isabelle Baldi1,2,11

+Author Affiliations

1. ¹Laboratoire Santé Travail Environnement, Univ. Bordeaux, ISPED, Bordeaux, France
2. ²INSERM, ISPED, Centre INSERM U897-Epidémiologie-Biostatistique, Bordeaux, France
3. ³CHU de Bordeaux, Service d'information médicale, Bordeaux, France
4. ⁴INSERM, UMR1086-Cancers et Préventions, Caen, France
5. ⁵Univ. Caen Basse-Normandie, Caen, France
6. ⁶Centre François Baclesse, Caen, France
7. ⁷Laboratoire d'Epidémiologie et de Biostatistiques, Univ. Montpellier, Institut Universitaire de Recherche Clinique, Montpellier, France
8. ⁸Département d'informatique médicale, CHU de Nîmes, Nîmes, France
9. ⁹Département de neurologie, CHU de Caen, Caen, France
10. ¹⁰Service de Neurochirurgie, CHU de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
11. ¹¹Service de Médecine du Travail, CHU de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France

1. Correspondence toDr Gaëlle Coureau, Université Bordeaux Segalen, ISPED, Equipe Santé Travail Environnement, 146 rue Léo Saignat, 33076 Bordeaux, Cedex, France; gaelle.coureau@isped.u-bordeaux2.fr

• Received 23 July 2013
• Revised 7 April 2014
• Accepted 15 April 2014
• Published Online First 9 May 2014

Abstract

The carcinogenic effect of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields in humans remains controversial. However, it has been suggested that they could be involved in the aetiology of some types of brain tumours.

Objectives The objective was to analyse the association between mobile phone exposure and primary central nervous system tumours (gliomas and meningiomas) in adults.

Methods CERENAT is a multicenter case-control study carried out in four areas in France in 2004–2006. Data about mobile phone use were collected through a detailed questionnaire delivered in a face-to-face manner. Conditional logistic regression for matched sets was used to estimate adjusted ORs and 95% CIs.

Results A total of 253 gliomas, 194 meningiomas and 892 matched controls selected from the local electoral rolls were analysed. No association with brain tumours was observed when comparing regular mobile phone users with non-users (OR=1.24; 95% CI 0.86 to 1.77 for gliomas, OR=0.90; 95% CI 0.61 to 1.34 for meningiomas). However, the positive association was statistically significant in the heaviest users when considering life-long cumulative duration (≥896 h, OR=2.89; 95% CI 1.41 to 5.93 for gliomas; OR=2.57; 95% CI 1.02 to 6.44 for meningiomas) and number of calls for gliomas (≥18 360 calls, OR=2.10, 95% CI 1.03 to 4.31). Risks were higher for gliomas, temporal tumours, occupational and urban mobile phone use.

Conclusions These additional data support previous findings concerning a possible association between heavy mobile phone use and brain tumors.

http://oem.bmj.com/content/early/2014/05/09/oemed-2013-101754.abstract.html