Mobile phones and seizures: drug-resistant epilepsy is less common in mobile-phone-using patients.
BACKGROUND
Epilepsy is a condition where patients have seizures due to abnormal nerve impulses in the brain. The effect of mobile phone radiation on patients with seizures is not known.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the seizure profile of patients not using mobile phones with that of their peers using mobile phones.


METHODS
In a retrospective cohort study performed at the neurology outpatient department of Guntur Medical College Hospital, Guntur, India from September 2014 to September 2015, we included 178 consecutive epileptic patients aged 16-65 years, who had had seizure disorder for 1 year or more. On the basis of their possession and usage of mobile phones, patients were divided into three groups: no mobile group (NMG), home mobile group (HMG) and personal mobile group (PMG). We obtained data on seizure frequency and recorded details of mobile phone usage and their antiepileptic drug (AED) treatment.


RESULTS
107 NMG, 3 HMG and 68 PMG patients were finalised for the analysis. There was no significant difference in the number of seizures in the past year between the three groups. The PMG (3.7%) contained a clinically significant lower proportion of patients with drug-resistant epilepsy than the NMG (28.2%). Patients with drug-responsive epilepsy were 7.4 (95% CI 1.4 to 39.9) (p=0.01) times more likely to be found in the PMG than in the NMG after adjustment for differences in sex and occupation.


CONCLUSIONS
Although the experimental data remain inconclusive, our clinical study suggests that patients who use mobile phones are less likely to have drug-resistant epilepsy.
Department of Neurology, Guntur Medical College, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Sundarachary
S
Nagarjunakonda
Department of Neurology, Guntur Medical College, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Sridhar
S
Amalakanti
Department of Neurology, Guntur Medical College, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Veeramma
V
Uppala
Department of Neurology, Guntur Medical College, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Rama Krishna
RK
Gajula
Department of Neurology, Guntur Medical College, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Ramya Sree
RS
Tata
Department of Neurology, Guntur Medical College, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Hima Bindu
HB
Bolla
Department of Neurology, Guntur Medical College, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Lalitha
L
Rajanala
Department of Neurology, Guntur Medical College, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Srinivasulu
S
Athina
Department of Neurology, Guntur Medical College, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Rajeswari
R
Daggumati
Department of Neurology, Guntur Medical College, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Harish
H
Lavu
Department of Neurology, Guntur Medical College, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Anil Kumar
AK
Devanaboina
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D040421:Cell Phone / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D000069279:Drug Resistant Epilepsy / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult
D000927:Anticonvulsants
GSM; Mobile phones; drug resistant epilepsy; mobile phone radiation; seizures