Showing Latest Articles
Cell phone use and acoustic neuroma: The need for standardized questionnaires and access to industry data
Surgical Neurology, 08/11/2009
Han YY et al. – Evaluation of risk factors for acoustic neuroma (AN) is challenging due to its long latency. Some studies of longer term cell phone use report increased risk of ipsilateral AN. Prospective study of cell phone use data, retrospective review of billing records for independent evaluations of exposures, and use of data on other key potential risk factors from questionnaires are key to evaluate the impact of cell phones on AN.
Methods- Critical review by PubMed search of current literature on cell phone use and AN risks
- Proposal of additional studies to clarify possible linkage
- Review of 10 case-control studies and 1 cohort study of AN risks associated with cell phone use and 1 meta-analysis of long-term use and association with AN and other brain tumors
- Most studies did not find association between AN development and cell phone use
- Studies with ≥10-yr follow-up cases reported an association
- Of 10 case-control studies, odds ratios for AN associated with regular cell phone use ranged from 0.5 to 4.2
- Cell phone use not associated with increased risk for AN in Danish cohort study that excluded business users
- Meta-analysis showed subjects cell phone use ≥10 yrs had 2.4-fold greater risk of ipsilateral AN
- Retrospective studies limited in ability to assess cell phone exposure due to recall bias and misclassification