Long-term digital mobile phone use and cognitive decline in the elderly.
Research on long-term exposure to electromagnetic fields on cognition is lacking. We investigated the associations between frequent digital mobile phone use and global and domain-specific cognitive changes in older persons, a vulnerable group experiencing age-associated cognitive decline. We assessed 871 non-demented Chinese participants in the Singapore Longitudinal Ageing Studies cohort on the frequency of digital mobile phone use, neurocognitive performance and confounding variables at baseline, and neurocognitive performance at the 4-year follow-up. Findings showed that digital mobile phone users were typically self-selected to possess characteristics favoring better cognitive functioning and concomitantly demonstrate better performance on cognitive tasks. There was evidently no significant deleterious effect of digital mobile phone use on cognitive functioning in older people. Findings suggest, however, that digital mobile phone use may have an independent facilitating effect on global and executive functioning.
Gerontological Research Programme, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore; Department of Psychological Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore. pcmngtp@nus.edu.sg.
Tze Pin
TP
Ng
May Li
ML
Lim
Mathew
M
Niti
Simon
S
Collinson
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D040421:Cell Phone; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008872:Microwaves; D008875:Middle Aged; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D012846:Singapore / Q000453:epidemiology
ageing; cognitive functioning; electromagnetic field