Overall mortality of cellular telephone customers.
Unlike mobile cellular telephones, in which the antenna is not part of the handset, a portable cellular telephone exposes the user's head to radio frequency energy transmitted from the antenna. This exposure has prompted concerns about potential biological effects, including brain cancer. As a first step in a record-based mortality surveillance of cellular telephone customers, we report on overall mortality of a cohort of more than 250,000 portable and mobile telephone customers during 1994. We found age-specific rates to be similar for users of the two types of telephones. For customers with accounts at least 3 years old, the ratio of mortality rates in 1994 for portable telephone users, compared with mobile telephone users, was 0.86 (90% confidence interval = 0.47-1.53).
Rothman
K J
KJ
Epidemiology Resources Inc., Newton Lower Falls, MA 02162-1450, USA.
Loughlin
J E
JE
Funch
D P
DP
Dreyer
N A
NA
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality*; D002423:Cause of Death; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009381:Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced / Q000401:mortality*; D011832:Radiation Injuries / Q000401:mortality*; D012306:Risk; D013685:Telecommunications / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013689:Telephone / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology