Prenatal and Postnatal Cell Phone Exposures and Headaches in Children.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Children today are exposed to cell phones early in life, and may be at the greatest risk if exposure is harmful to health. We investigated associations between cell phone exposures and headaches in children. STUDY DESIGN: The Danish National Birth Cohort enrolled pregnant women between 1996 and 2002. When their children reached age seven years, mothers completed a questionnaire regarding the child's health, behaviors, and exposures. We used multivariable adjusted models to relate prenatal only, postnatal only, or both prenatal and postnatal cell phone exposure to whether the child had migraines and headache-related symptoms. RESULTS: Our analyses included data from 52,680 children. Children with cell phone exposure had higher odds of migraines and headache-related symptoms than children with no exposure. The odds ratio for migraines was 1.30 (95% confidence interval: 1.01-1.68) and for headache-related symptoms was 1.32 (95% confidence interval: 1.23-1.40) for children with both prenatal and postnatal exposure. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, cell phone exposures were associated with headaches in children, but the associations may not be causal given the potential for uncontrolled confounding and misclassification in observational studies such as this. However, given the widespread use of cell phones, if a causal effect exists it would have great public health impact.

AI evidence extraction

Main findings

In multivariable adjusted analyses of 52,680 children, prenatal and/or postnatal cell phone exposure was associated with higher odds of migraines and headache-related symptoms compared with no exposure. For both prenatal and postnatal exposure, the odds ratio was 1.30 (95% CI: 1.01–1.68) for migraines and 1.32 (95% CI: 1.23–1.40) for headache-related symptoms.

Outcomes measured

• Migraines
• Headache-related symptoms

Limitations

• Observational design; authors note associations may not be causal
• Potential uncontrolled confounding
• Potential exposure misclassification (questionnaire-based)

Suggested hubs

• who-icnirp (0.3)
  Human observational study of RF exposure from mobile phones and health symptoms in children; relevant to RF health risk assessment discussions.

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    "study_type": "cohort",
    "exposure": {
        "band": "RF",
        "source": "mobile phone",
        "frequency_mhz": null,
        "sar_wkg": null,
        "duration": null
    },
    "population": "Children in the Danish National Birth Cohort assessed at age 7 years (maternal questionnaire); prenatal and/or postnatal cell phone exposure categories.",
    "sample_size": 52680,
    "outcomes": [
        "Migraines",
        "Headache-related symptoms"
    ],
    "main_findings": "In multivariable adjusted analyses of 52,680 children, prenatal and/or postnatal cell phone exposure was associated with higher odds of migraines and headache-related symptoms compared with no exposure. For both prenatal and postnatal exposure, the odds ratio was 1.30 (95% CI: 1.01–1.68) for migraines and 1.32 (95% CI: 1.23–1.40) for headache-related symptoms.",
    "effect_direction": "harm",
    "limitations": [
        "Observational design; authors note associations may not be causal",
        "Potential uncontrolled confounding",
        "Potential exposure misclassification (questionnaire-based)"
    ],
    "evidence_strength": "low",
    "confidence": 0.7800000000000000266453525910037569701671600341796875,
    "peer_reviewed_likely": "yes",
    "keywords": [
        "Danish National Birth Cohort",
        "prenatal exposure",
        "postnatal exposure",
        "cell phone",
        "mobile phone",
        "children",
        "migraine",
        "headache",
        "questionnaire",
        "observational"
    ],
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            "reason": "Human observational study of RF exposure from mobile phones and health symptoms in children; relevant to RF health risk assessment discussions."
        }
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}

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