Cell phones and cancer

Drs. Daniel Krewski and Franco Momoli recently contributed to an environmental research paper entitled: Cell phone use and the risk of glioma: are case-control study findings consistent with Canadian time trends in cancer incidence? The paper was published in Environmental Research (Elsevier).

The paper seeks to advance the discussion regarding the controversy as to whether cell phones cause cancer. The paper evaluates whether temporal changes in cell phone use and the incidence of glioma in Canada are consistent with the hypothesis of increased risk.

The study found that the number of cellular subscriptions in Canada increased from nil in the early-1980s to approximately 29.5 million in 2015. In contrast, age-standardized glioma incidence rates remained stable between 1992 and 2015. The application of risk estimates from i) a recent pooled analyses of Swedish case control studies, ii) the 13 country INTERPHONE study, and iii) the Canadian data from INTERPHONE overestimated the observed number of glioma cases diagnosed in Canada in 2015 by 49%, 85%, and 63%, respectively.

This analysis indicates that predictions of possible increases in glioma risk based on epidemiological studies are not consistent with observed trends in the incidence of glioma over the 24-year study period. However, because of the long latency period for the development of glioma, the authors recommend further investigation as newer data become available.

The paper is available by clicking here.