Cellular Telephone Use and Risk of Acoustic Neuroma

Christensen HC , Schüz J, Kosteljanetz M, Poulsen HS, Thomsen J, Johansen J

Am J Epidemiol 159:277-283, 2004

Despite limited evidence, cellular telephones have been claimed to cause cancer, especially in the brain. In this Danish study, the authors examined the possible association between use of cellular telephones and development of acoustic neuroma. Between 2000 and 2002, they ascertained 106 incident cases and matched these persons with 212 randomly sampled, population-based controls on age and sex.

The data obtained included information on use of cellular telephones from personal interviews, data from medical records, and the results of radiologic examinations. The authors obtained information on socioeconomic factors from Statistics Denmark.

The overall estimated relative risk of acoustic neuroma was 0.90 (95% confidence interval: 0.51, 1.57). Use of a cell phone for 10 years or more did not increase acoustic neuroma risk over that of short-term users. Furthermore, tumors did not occur more frequently on the side of the head on which the telephone was typically used, and the size of the tumor did not correlate with the pattern of cell phone use.

The results of this prospective, population-based, nationwide study, which included a large number of long-term users of cellular telephones, do not support an association between cell phone use and risk of acoustic neuroma.