Headache in the international cohort study of mobile phone use and health (COSMOS) in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom

Eugenio Traini*, Rachel B Smith, Roel Vermeulen, Hans Kromhout, Joachim Schüz, Maria Feychting, Anssi Auvinen, Aslak Harbo Poulsen, Isabelle Deltour, David C Muller, Joël Heller, Giorgio Tettamanti, Paul Elliott, Anke Huss, Mireille B Toledano

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Headache is a common condition with a substantial burden of disease worldwide. Concerns have been raised over the potential impact of long-term mobile phone use on headache due to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs). We explored prospectively the association between mobile phone use at baseline (2009-2012) and headache at follow-up (2015-2018) by analysing pooled data consisting of the Dutch and UK cohorts of the Cohort Study of Mobile Phone Use and Health (COSMOS) (N = 78,437). Frequency of headache, migraine, and information on mobile phone use, including use of hands-free devices and frequency of texting, were self-reported. We collected objective operator data to obtain regression calibrated estimates of voice call duration. In the model mutually adjusted for call-time and text messaging, participants in the high category of call-time showed an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 1.04 (95 % CI: 0.94-1.15), with no clear trend of reporting headache with increasing call-time. However, we found an increased risk of weekly headache (OR = 1.40, 95 % CI: 1.25-1.56) in the high category of text messaging, with a clear increase in reporting headache with increasing texting. Due to the negligible exposure to RF-EMFs from texting, our results suggest that mechanisms other than RF-EMFs are responsible for the increased risk of headache that we found among mobile phone users.

Original languageEnglish
Article number118290
Pages (from-to)1-10
Number of pages10
JournalEnvironmental Research
Volume248
Early online date25 Jan 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 May 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Authors

Funding

The Swedish part of COSMOS has been funded by the Swedish Research Council (50096102), AFA Insurance (T-26:04), the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (2010–0082, 2014–0889), the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM 2015-2408, SSM 2019-3434), and VINNOVA (P31735-1). VINNOVA received funds from TeliaSonera AB, Ericsson AB and Telenor Sverige AB, to cover part of the data collection (ended 2012). The provision of funds to the COSMOS study investigators via VINNOVA was governed by agreements guaranteeing COSMOS’ complete scientific independence. TeliaSonera, Telenor, 3, and Tele 2 made it possible for their subscribers to participate with traffic data. The UK part of COSMOS was funded for an initial 5 year period by the MTHR (Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research), an independent programme of research into mobile phones and health that was jointly supported by the UK Department of Health and the mobile telecommunications industry (project reference number 091/0006) and, subsequently, funded by the UK Department of Health via its Policy Research Programme (project reference number PR-ST-0713-00003). The UK research was also part-funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research Health Protection Research Unit (NIHR HPRU) in Health Impact of Environmental Hazards a partnership between King's College London, Imperial College London and Public Health England (now UK Health Security Agency, UK HSA) (HPRU-2012-10,141) and subsequently the NIHR HPRU in Chemical and Radiation Threats and Hazards at Imperial College London and UK HSA (grant award reference NIHR-200922). The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the National Health service (NHS), the NIHR, the UK Department of Health or UK HSA. The Finnish cohort was supported by a grant from the National Technology Agency (TEKES), with contributions to the research programme from Nokia, TeliaSonera and Elisa; Pirkanmaa Hospital District competitive research funding (grant no. VTR 9T003); Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation (grant no. 5692); and an unrestricted grant from Mobile Manufacturers' Forum (with Pirkanmaa Hospital District as a firewall) with a contract guaranteeing the complete scientific independence of the researchers to analyse, interpret and report the results with no influence for the funding sources. The Dutch part of COSMOS was funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw) within the Electromagnetic Fields and Health Research programme (grant numbers 85200001, 85500003 and 85800001). The Danish Strategic Research Council funded by the Danish part of COSMOS (grants 2103-05-0006/2064-04-0010). The French part of COSMOS is funded by the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES), project reference numbers 2013-CRD-17, 2015-CRD-30, 2018-CRD-03, 2020-CRD-RF20-01 and the International Agency for Research on Cancer.We want to thank all the participants who have joined the COSMOS cohort study (http://www.thecosmosproject.org/). We thank mobile phone network operators in Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK for inviting their subscribers and/or providing operator traffic data. In the UK, Milagros Ruiz, Mark Ellis, Nick Henriquez, Jonathan Pham, Charlotte Fleming, James Brook, Margaret Douglass, Joe Gale, James Bennett, Samantha Udondem, and Tom Kennett, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK contributed to cohort set up and/or collection of data analysed in this paper. COSMOS Study Group members not in the author list: Christoffer Johansen, Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Copenhagen, Denmark; CASTLE Cancer Late Effect Research Oncology Clinic, Center for Surgery and Cancer, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark; Terhi Lampio, Susanna Lankinen, Turkka Näppilä and Taru Vehmasto, Tampere University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere, Finland; Inka Pieterson, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS), Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands; Nina Berentzen, Floor van Leeuwen, Matti Rookus, Michael Schaapveld, Department of Psychosocial Research and Epidemiology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; W.M. Monique Verschuren, Centre for Nutrition, Prevention and Health Services, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven & Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands; Mats Talbäck, Unit of Epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm Sweden. PE is the Director of the MRC Centre for Environment and Health supported by the Medical Research Council. PE acknowledges funding from the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Chemical and Radiation Threats and Hazards and the UK Dementia Research Institute supported by UK DRI Ltd which is funded by the UK Medical Research Council, Alzheimer's Society and Alzheimer's Research UK. PE is associate director of Health Data Research UK-London which receives funding from a consortium led by the UK Medical Research Council. MBT's Chair and RBS's fellowship are supported in part by a donation from Marit Mohn to Imperial College London to support Population Child Health through the Mohn Centre for Children's Health and Wellbeing. MR, LP, RV and HK were supported by The Netherlands Organization for Health Research (ZonMW) within the Electromagnetic Fields and Health Research program, under grant numbers 85200001, 85500003 and 85800001. Where authors are identified as personnel of the International Agency for Research on Cancer/World Health Organization, the authors alone are responsible for the views expressed in this article and they do not necessarily represent the decisions, policy or views of the International Agency for Research on Cancer/World Health Organization. The Swedish part of COSMOS has been funded by the Swedish Research Council ( 50096102 ), AFA Insurance (T-26:04), the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (2010–0082, 2014–0889), the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority ( SSM 2015-2408 , SSM 2019-3434 ), and VINNOVA ( P31735-1 ). VINNOVA received funds from TeliaSonera AB, Ericsson AB and Telenor Sverige AB, to cover part of the data collection (ended 2012). The provision of funds to the COSMOS study investigators via VINNOVA was governed by agreements guaranteeing COSMOS’ complete scientific independence. TeliaSonera, Telenor, 3, and Tele 2 made it possible for their subscribers to participate with traffic data. The UK part of COSMOS was funded for an initial 5 year period by the MTHR (Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research ), an independent programme of research into mobile phones and health that was jointly supported by the UK Department of Health and the mobile telecommunications industry (project reference number 091/0006 ) and, subsequently, funded by the UK Department of Health via its Policy Research Programme (project reference number PR-ST-0713-00003 ). The UK research was also part-funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research Health Protection Research Unit ( NIHR HPRU) in Health Impact of Environmental Hazards a partnership between King's College London, Imperial College London and Public Health England (now UK Health Security Agency, UK HSA ) ( HPRU-2012-10,141 ) and subsequently the NIHR HPRU in Chemical and Radiation Threats and Hazards at Imperial College London and UK HSA (grant award reference NIHR-200922). The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the National Health service (NHS), the NIHR, the UK Department of Health or UK HSA. The Finnish cohort was supported by a grant from the National Technology Agency (TEKES), with contributions to the research programme from Nokia , TeliaSonera and Elisa; Pirkanmaa Hospital District competitive research funding (grant no. VTR 9T003 ); Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation (grant no. 5692 ); and an unrestricted grant from Mobile Manufacturers' Forum (with Pirkanmaa Hospital District as a firewall) with a contract guaranteeing the complete scientific independence of the researchers to analyse, interpret and report the results with no influence for the funding sources. The Dutch part of COSMOS was funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development ( ZonMw ) within the Electromagnetic Fields and Health Research programme (grant numbers 85200001 , 85500003 and 85800001 ). The Danish Strategic Research Council funded by the Danish part of COSMOS (grants 2103-05-0006 / 2064-04-0010 ). The French part of COSMOS is funded by the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety ( ANSES ), project reference numbers 2013-CRD-17 , 2015-CRD-30 , 2018-CRD-03 , 2020-CRD-RF20-01 and the International Agency for Research on Cancer . We want to thank all the participants who have joined the COSMOS cohort study ( http://www.thecosmosproject.org/ ). We thank mobile phone network operators in Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK for inviting their subscribers and/or providing operator traffic data. In the UK, Milagros Ruiz, Mark Ellis, Nick Henriquez, Jonathan Pham, Charlotte Fleming, James Brook, Margaret Douglass, Joe Gale, James Bennett, Samantha Udondem, and Tom Kennett, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK contributed to cohort set up and/or collection of data analysed in this paper. COSMOS Study Group members not in the author list: Christoffer Johansen, Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Copenhagen, Denmark; CASTLE Cancer Late Effect Research Oncology Clinic, Center for Surgery and Cancer, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark; Terhi Lampio, Susanna Lankinen, Turkka Näppilä and Taru Vehmasto, Tampere University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere, Finland; Inka Pieterson, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS), Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands; Nina Berentzen, Floor van Leeuwen, Matti Rookus, Michael Schaapveld, Department of Psychosocial Research and Epidemiology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; W.M. Monique Verschuren, Centre for Nutrition, Prevention and Health Services, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven & Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands; Mats Talbäck, Unit of Epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm Sweden. PE is the Director of the MRC Centre for Environment and Health supported by the Medical Research Council . PE acknowledges funding from the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre , the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Chemical and Radiation Threats and Hazards and the UK Dementia Research Institute supported by UK DRI Ltd which is funded by the UK Medical Research Council , Alzheimer's Society and Alzheimer's Research UK . PE is associate director of Health Data Research UK-London which receives funding from a consortium led by the UK Medical Research Council . MBT's Chair and RBS's fellowship are supported in part by a donation from Marit Mohn to Imperial College London to support Population Child Health through the Mohn Centre for Children's Health and Wellbeing. MR, LP, RV and HK were supported by The Netherlands Organization for Health Research (ZonMW) within the Electromagnetic Fields and Health Research program, under grant numbers 85200001 , 85500003 and 85800001 . Where authors are identified as personnel of the International Agency for Research on Cancer/World Health Organization, the authors alone are responsible for the views expressed in this article and they do not necessarily represent the decisions, policy or views of the International Agency for Research on Cancer/World Health Organization.

FundersFunder number
Department of Health or UK HSA
Department of Psychosocial Research and Epidemiology
Ericsson AB
Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences
International Agency for Research
International Agency for Research on Cancer/World Health Organization
Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research
Mohn Centre for Children's Health and Wellbeing
NIHR-200922
National Technology Agency
Netherlands Cancer Institute
Netherlands Organization for Health Research
Telenor Sverige AB
TeliaSonera
TeliaSonera AB
Nokia
Strategiske Forskningsråd2103-05-0006 / 2064-04-0010
Strategiske Forskningsråd
Centre International de Recherche sur le Cancer
Yrjö Jahnssonin Säätiö5692
Yrjö Jahnssonin Säätiö
Danish Cancer Society Research Center
National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit
Medical Research Council
National Institute for Health and Care Research
Alzheimer's Society
Humane Slaughter AssociationHPRU-2012-10,141
Humane Slaughter Association
ZonMw85800001, 85200001, 85500003
ZonMw
Universiteit Utrecht
VinnovaP31735-1
Vinnova
Alzheimer’s Research UK
AFA Försäkring
Tekes
Karolinska Institutet
Vetenskapsrådet50096102
Vetenskapsrådet
Tampereen Yliopisto
Forskningsrådet om Hälsa, Arbetsliv och Välfärd
Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l’alimentation, de l’environnement et du travail2015-CRD-30, 2018-CRD-03, 2020-CRD-RF20-01, 2013-CRD-17
Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l’alimentation, de l’environnement et du travail
Pirkanmaan SairaanhoitopiiriVTR 9T003
Pirkanmaan Sairaanhoitopiiri
StrålsäkerhetsmyndighetenSSM 2015-2408, SSM 2019-3434
Strålsäkerhetsmyndigheten
NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre
UK Dementia Research Institute
Tasmanian Department of Health091/0006, PR-ST-0713-00003
Tasmanian Department of Health

    Keywords

    • COSMOS
    • Cohort study
    • Headache
    • Migraine
    • Mobile phone use
    • Radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs)

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