Re-analysis of risk for glioma in relation to mobile telephone use: comparison with the results of the Interphone international case-control study. Lennart Hardell1,*, Michael Carlberg1 and Kjell Hansson Mild2

Press release

Swedish Örebro studies on mobile phone use and risk for brain tumour
re-analysed using the same methods as in Interphone: Increased risk
in both studies and the critique of Interphone is reinforced

The international WHO Interphone study was published in May 2010. The
results showed an increased risk for malignant brain tumours (glioma)
for the heaviest user of mobile phones, (1,640 hours or more in
total). The studies on brain tumour risk from the Hardell-group at the
University Hospital, Örebro, Sweden have been criticized for
seemingly higher risk for mobile phone use than in other studies.

In a new analysis of the results from Örebro it is found that similar
results as in Interphone are obtained if restriction of the material
and methods is made according to the WHO study. The results are now
published in International Journal of Epidemiology on Internet.

The WHO Interphone study included only persons diagnosed with brain
tumour at the age of 30-59 years. Use of cordless desktop phones
(DECT) was not assessed. Furthermore, the highest exposure group was
restricted to persons who had used a mobile phone for 1,640 hours or
more in total. That corresponds to only 30 minutes per day over a time
period of 10 years.

On the contrary, the Örebro studies included patients with brain
tumour aged 20-80 years. Use of cordless phone was surveyed as
carefully as use of mobile phone. The group with highest exposure
included persons who had used a mobile phone more than in Interphone;
2,000 hours or more.

The Örebro group has now in the new paper restricted the analysis to
the criteria used in the WHO study. Only patients and control subjects
aged 30-59 years were included, use of cordless phone was disregarded
and highest exposure was limited to 1,640 hours or more. Thereby the
risk for glioma was lowered from odds ratio (OR) 2.31 to OR 1.75 in
the most exposed group. The corresponding result in Interphone was OR
1.41. Similar results were found in both studies for tumours in the
most exposed area of the brain (the temporal lobe), but now it is
Interphone that gives a higher risk, OR 1.87, compared with OR 1.46 in
the Örebo study.

Besides similar results in both studies when the same criteria are
used, this analysis confirms the critique of the Interphone study. The
risk has been underestimated since persons aged 20-29 years and more
than 60 years of age were excluded, use of cordless phones was not
assessed and risk for the most exposed persons was not analysed.

In conclusion both studies showed a statistically significantly
doubled risk for glioma at the same side as the mobile phone had been
used for 1,640 hours or more; Örebro study OR 2.18, Interphone OR
1.96. Simlar results were thus obtained in both studies if the same
criteria were used in the analysis, that is type of phone (only
mobile), cumulative number of hours for use, age group, and anatomical
localisation of the brain tumour compared with exposure to microwaves
from the mobile phone.

Contact persons:

Lennart Hardell, Professor, Department of Oncology, University
Hospital. SE-701 85 Örebro, Sweden
Phone + 46 19 602 10 00, E-mail: lennart.hardell@orebroll.se

Kjell Hansson Mild, Professor, Department of Radiation Sciences, Umeå
University, SE-701 87 Umeå, Sweden

Phone + 46 90 7858487, E-mail: kjell.hansson.mild@radfys.umu.se

References:

The Interphone Study Group. Brain tumour risk in relation to mobile
telephone use: results of the Interphone international case-control
study. Int J Epidemiol 2010;39: 675-694.

Hardell L, Carlberg M, Hansson Mild K. Re-analysis of risk for glioma
in relation to mobile telephone use: comparison with the results of
the Interphone international case-control study. Int J Epidemiol 2010;
doi:10.1093/ije/dyq246

Re-analysis of risk for glioma in relation to mobile telephone use: comparison with the results of the Interphone international case-control study
Lennart Hardell1,*, Michael Carlberg1 and Kjell Hansson Mild2
+ Author Affiliations
1Department of Oncology, University Hospital, Örebro and 2Department of Radiation Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
*Corresponding author. Department of Oncology, University Hospital, SE-701 82 Örebro, Sweden. E-mail: lennart.hardell@orebroll.se
The long-awaited Interphone study on use of mobile phones and the risk of brain tumour was recently published. 1 It was coordinated by International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and included 16 research centres from 13 countries. Results for cases aged 30-59 years of age diagnosed during study periods of 2-4 years between 2000 and 2004 were presented.
Our research group has published results for brain tumour risk and long term use of mobile phones. In contrast to Interphone, we also included use of cordless phones. Radiofrequency emissions from a cordless phone are in the same magnitude as from a digital mobile phone, as discussed in our publications and recently shown also by Redmayne et al. 2 Moreover, cordless phones are used for longer calls. Including such use in the ‘unexposed’ group as in the Interphone study would bias the odds ratio (OR) towards unity. We have previously compared study methods and results in our investigations with those in the Interphone group. 3
Due to the lack of information and any discussion of the Interphone findings in relation to our results, ...

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