Cell phones and brain cancer:

Unlocking the controversy?

Faina Linkov, PhD
Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh
Cancer Institute
 Why is there a concern about
cell phones and breast cancer?
• Interest in the media
• New technology with rapid increase in
use in the past 10 years
• Potential exposure to Radiofrequency
(RF) “radiation”
• Limited information re: RF radiation
risks
• Etiology of brain tumors largely
unknown
 What is brain cancer
Most brain cancers can spread through the
brain tissue but rarely spread to other
areas of the body. But even so-called
"benign" tumors can, as they grow,
compress normal brain tissue, causing
damage that is often disabling and
sometimes fatal. For this reason, doctors
usually speak of "brain tumors" rather than
"brain cancers."
Glioma: Most common type of brain
cancer
Gliomas are not a specific type of cancer.
Glioma is a general term for a group of
tumors that start in glial cells. A number of
tumors can be considered gliomas,
including glioblastoma multiforme,
astrocytomas, oligodendrogliomas, and
ependymomas. About 4 out of 10 of all
brain tumors are gliomas. Counting only
malignant tumors, about 8 out of 10 are
gliomas.
 Brain cancer statistics
• The American Cancer Society estimates that 21,810
malignant tumors of the brain or spinal cord (11,780 in
men and 10,030 in women) will be diagnosed during
2008 in the United States. These numbers would likely
be much higher if benign tumors were also included.
About 13,070 people (7,420 men and 5,650 women)
will die from these tumors.
• This would account for about 1.5% of all cancers and
2.3% of all expected cancer-related deaths in 2008.
Both adults and children are included in these statistics.
• Overall, the chance that a person will develop a
malignant tumor of the brain or spinal cord in his or her
lifetime is less than 1% (about 1 in 150 for a man and 1
in 182 for a woman).
 1
10
100
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990

Year of Diag nosis

1991
1992
(SEER)

Cell phones

1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
Trends in Brain Cancer Incidence By Age, 1973-2005

≥65 years

<15 years
15-44 years
45-64 years
The following factors have been proposed as
possible risk factors for primary brain tumors.
Whether these factors actually increase the
risk of a brain tumor is not known for sure.
• Genetic risk
• Radiation to the head
• HIV infection
• Smoking
• Toxins
Electromagnetic
Spectrum

Digital phones
(up to
1900 MHz)

Early analog
phones
(800-900 Mhz)
 Biological Effects of
Radiofrequency Radiation
• Energy of a radiofrequency (RF) wave from a cellular
telephone is billions of times lower than the energy of
an x-ray photon
• RF radiation is insufficiently energetic to break
molecular bonds or ionize molecules
• At high power levels, RF radiation can cause heating,
but biological effect from cellular phone use unlikely to
be thermal
• No consistent experimental evidence of carcinogenicity
or genotoxicity
• Mechanism by which RF radiation might cause cancer?
 NCI Study – Methods
• Hospital-based, case-control study
• 3 hospitals (Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Boston)
• 782 newly-diagnosed cases (489 glioma,
197 meningioma, 96 acoustic neuroma)
• 799 matched controls
• Interview about use of cellular phones
• Data collection from 1994 to 1998
 Cell-Phone Use and Risk of
Glioma
Cumulative
Use (hr) Controls Cases OR 95% CI
never/rarely 625 398 1.0
< 13 55 26 0.8 0.4 - 1.4
13 to 100 58 26 0.7 0.4 - 1.3
> 100 54 32 0.9 0.5 - 1.6
> 500 27 11 0.5 0.2 - 1.3
 Cell-Phone Use and Risk of
Glioma:
Laterality of Tumor and Phone Use
Phone Use*
Tumor Left Right P-value**
Left 8 18 0.77
Right 10 17

* Use for >= 6 months before tumor diagnosis

** Test for independence
 Main Findings
• No association between incidence of
glioma and level of use of cell phone
• Laterality of cancer not related to
laterality of phone use
• Similar findings for meningioma &
acoustic neuroma
 Strengths
• Incident, histologically-confirmed cases
• Rapid case ascertainment
– Relatively few proxy interviews
• High participation rates (92% for cases,
86% for controls)
• Large sample size for glioma
• Use of imaging and surgical reports to
determine tumor location
 Limitations
• Small number of long-term, heavy users
• Cannot rule out small risks
• Reliance on interviews taken after tumor
diagnosis to assess cell phone use
– potential for imperfect recall (as in all case-
control studies)
• Changes in cellular technology
 Changes in Cellular Networks
and Phones
• Analog versus digital
– First cell phones were analog
– Digital service began in the U.S. in 1992; earlier in
Europe
– Current cell phones are digital
– Digital phones emit less RF energy per unit time
– Adaptive power control
• Higher density of base station antennas
• Higher operating frequencies
 Other studies
• Most existing studies found little or no
association between cell phone use and
brain cancer
• Existing studies are quite limited, therefore
more studies are needed to establish
cause and effect relationship
 Summary
• Brain cancer incidence trends for brain
cancer appears to be unrelated to cell phone
use
• No consistent subgroup findings but need
larger numbers of longer-term users to
evaluate different exposure metrics, latency,
laterality, etc.
• There is a a need to evaluate consistency
within and among existing studies
• Further studies are needed to detect longer-
term risks and risks to children