Mobile phone use and brain tumour risk – COSMOS, a prospective cohort study
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Each new generation of mobile phone technology has triggered discussions about potential carcinogenicity from exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF). Available evidence has been insufficient to conclude about long-term and heavy mobile phone use, limited by differential recall and selection bias, or crude exposure assessment. The Cohort Study on Mobile Phones and Health (COSMOS) was specifically designed to overcome these shortcomings. METHODS: We recruited participants in Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK 2007-2012. The baseline questionnaire assessed lifetime history of mobile phone use. Participants were followed through population-based cancer registers to identify glioma, meningioma, and acoustic neuroma cases during follow-up. Non-differential exposure misclassification was reduced by adjusting estimates of mobile phone call-time through regression calibration methods based on self-reported data and objective operator-recorded information at baseline. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for glioma, meningioma, and acoustic neuroma in relation to lifetime history of mobile phone use were estimated with Cox regression models with attained age as the underlying time-scale, adjusted for country, sex, educational level, and marital status. RESULTS: 264,574 participants accrued 1,836,479 person-years. During a median follow-up of 7.12 years, 149 glioma, 89 meningioma, and 29 incident cases of acoustic neuroma were diagnosed. The adjusted HR per 100 regression-calibrated cumulative hours of mobile phone call-time was 1.00 (95 % CI 0.98-1.02) for glioma, 1.01 (95 % CI 0.96-1.06) for meningioma, and 1.02 (95 % CI 0.99-1.06) for acoustic neuroma. For glioma, the HR for ≥ 1908 regression-calibrated cumulative hours (90th percentile cut-point) was 1.07 (95 % CI 0.62-1.86). Over 15 years of mobile phone use was not associated with an increased tumour risk; for glioma the HR was 0.97 (95 % CI 0.62-1.52). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that the cumulative amount of mobile phone use is not associated with the risk of developing glioma, meningioma, or acoustic neuroma.
Related
- Response to the Letter to the Editor regarding “Mobile phone use and brain tumour risk − COSMOS, a prospective cohort study”
- Response to the letter 2 to the editor regarding “Mobile phone use and brain tumour risk − COSMOS, a prospective cohort study”
- Long-term effect of mobile phone use on sleep quality: Results from the cohort study of mobile phone use and health (COSMOS)
- Headache in the international cohort study of mobile phone use and health (COSMOS) in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom
- Time trends in mobile phone use and glioma incidence among males in the Nordic Countries, 1979–2016
BibTeX
@article{feychting2026mobile,
title = {{Mobile phone use and brain tumour risk – COSMOS, a prospective cohort study}},
author = {Maria Feychting and Joachim Schüz and Mireille B. Toledano and Roel Vermeulen and Anssi Auvinen and Aslak Harbo Poulsen and Isabelle Deltour and Rachel B. Smith and Joel Heller and Hans Kromhout and Anke Huss and Christoffer Johansen and Giorgio Tettamanti and Paul Elliott},
journal = {Environment International},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.envint.2024.108552},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05795604v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Mobile phone use and brain tumour risk – COSMOS, a prospective cohort study
AU - Maria Feychting
AU - Joachim Schüz
AU - Mireille B. Toledano
AU - Roel Vermeulen
AU - Anssi Auvinen
AU - Aslak Harbo Poulsen
AU - Isabelle Deltour
AU - Rachel B. Smith
AU - Joel Heller
AU - Hans Kromhout
AU - Anke Huss
AU - Christoffer Johansen
AU - Giorgio Tettamanti
AU - Paul Elliott
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/12
JO - Environment International
DO - 10.1016/j.envint.2024.108552
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05795604v1
AB - BACKGROUND: Each new generation of mobile phone technology has triggered discussions about potential carcinogenicity from exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF). Available evidence has been insufficient to conclude about long-term and heavy mobile phone use, limited by differential recall and selection bias, or crude exposure assessment. The Cohort Study on Mobile Phones and Health (COSMOS) was specifically designed to overcome these shortcomings. METHODS: We recruited participants in Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK 2007-2012. The baseline questionnaire assessed lifetime history of mobile phone use. Participants were followed through population-based cancer registers to identify glioma, meningioma, and acoustic neuroma cases during follow-up. Non-differential exposure misclassification was reduced by adjusting estimates of mobile phone call-time through regression calibration methods based on self-reported data and objective operator-recorded information at baseline. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for glioma, meningioma, and acoustic neuroma in relation to lifetime history of mobile phone use were estimated with Cox regression models with attained age as the underlying time-scale, adjusted for country, sex, educational level, and marital status. RESULTS: 264,574 participants accrued 1,836,479 person-years. During a median follow-up of 7.12 years, 149 glioma, 89 meningioma, and 29 incident cases of acoustic neuroma were diagnosed. The adjusted HR per 100 regression-calibrated cumulative hours of mobile phone call-time was 1.00 (95 % CI 0.98-1.02) for glioma, 1.01 (95 % CI 0.96-1.06) for meningioma, and 1.02 (95 % CI 0.99-1.06) for acoustic neuroma. For glioma, the HR for ≥ 1908 regression-calibrated cumulative hours (90th percentile cut-point) was 1.07 (95 % CI 0.62-1.86). Over 15 years of mobile phone use was not associated with an increased tumour risk; for glioma the HR was 0.97 (95 % CI 0.62-1.52). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that the cumulative amount of mobile phone use is not associated with the risk of developing glioma, meningioma, or acoustic neuroma.
SN - 0160-4120
ER -