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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Cancers

Ecological Analysis of Spatiotemporal Patterns in Brain Tumor Incidence and Cellular Infrastructure Growth in the United States

  • János A. Barbero1,2
  • Prashin Unadkat3
  • Daniel G. Eichberg4,5
  • Randy S. D’Amico4,5
  • Daniel M. Sciubba4,5
  • Michael Schulder4,5
  • Jung Park4,5
5 affiliations
  1. 1Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Hempstead, NY 11549, USA
  2. 2The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, Manhasset, NY 11030, USA
  3. 3Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA
  4. 4Northwell, New Hyde Park, NY 11042, USA
  5. 5Department of Neurosurgery, North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset, NY 11030, USA
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Abstract

Background/Objectives: The widespread growth of wireless technologies has made ambient exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) ubiquitous. Previous studies have examined associations between mobile phone use and primary malignant brain tumor risk, yet the oncologic impact of ambient exposure remains unclear. Methods: We linked cellular infrastructure density from the OpenCelliD geodatabase to county-level brain tumor incidence in the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry across 884 counties covering 46% of the U.S. population. Deployment followed a sigmoid growth pattern with an inflection in 2016; we compared infrastructure density and incidence ratios from 2011–2015 to 2016–2020, adjusting for baseline rates. Legacy cell tower infrastructure and LTE were examined separately, with vestibular schwannoma as a negative control, confounder adjustment, repeated-measures panels, and age stratification. Results: Growth in infrastructure density correlated with growth in total primary malignant brain tumors (r = 0.19, p = 2.2 × 10−8, 95% CI 0.122 to 0.250) and glioblastoma (r = 0.14, p = 5.5 × 10−5, 95% CI 0.070 to 0.200). The total-tumor association persisted after regressing out glioblastoma, though the non-GBM component attenuated to non-significance after full confounder adjustment. Vestibular schwannoma showed no significant association. The GBM association was significant for legacy cell tower infrastructure (r = 0.104, p = 0.0024, 95% CI 0.037 to 0.170) but non-significant for LTE, persisted after confounder adjustment, and was significant only in adults aged 70 and older. The GSM definition was post hoc, and its association was model-dependent. In the first-difference (repeated-measures) analysis, GBM was not significantly associated with legacy cell tower infrastructure (coefficient = 0.014, p = 0.70, 95% CI −0.060 to 0.088), while the association with all towers did not reach statistical significance (coefficient = 0.13, p = 0.052, 95% CI −0.001 to 0.251). Conclusions: County-level growth of cellular infrastructure is modestly associated with primary malignant brain tumor incidence. The legacy association was significant only in adults aged 70 and older; LTE and vestibular schwannoma showed no significant association. These findings are hypothesis-generating; causation is not established.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{barbero2026ecological,
  title = {{Ecological Analysis of Spatiotemporal Patterns in Brain Tumor Incidence and Cellular Infrastructure Growth in the United States}},
  author = {János A. Barbero and Prashin Unadkat and Daniel G. Eichberg and Randy S. D’Amico and Daniel M. Sciubba and Michael Schulder and Jung Park},
  journal = {Cancers},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.3390/cancers18213419},
  url = {https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/18/21/3419},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Ecological Analysis of Spatiotemporal Patterns in Brain Tumor Incidence and Cellular Infrastructure Growth in the United States
AU  - János A. Barbero
AU  - Prashin Unadkat
AU  - Daniel G. Eichberg
AU  - Randy S. D’Amico
AU  - Daniel M. Sciubba
AU  - Michael Schulder
AU  - Jung Park
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/22
JO  - Cancers
DO  - 10.3390/cancers18213419
UR  - https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/18/21/3419
AB  - Background/Objectives: The widespread growth of wireless technologies has made ambient exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) ubiquitous. Previous studies have examined associations between mobile phone use and primary malignant brain tumor risk, yet the oncologic impact of ambient exposure remains unclear. Methods: We linked cellular infrastructure density from the OpenCelliD geodatabase to county-level brain tumor incidence in the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry across 884 counties covering 46% of the U.S. population. Deployment followed a sigmoid growth pattern with an inflection in 2016; we compared infrastructure density and incidence ratios from 2011–2015 to 2016–2020, adjusting for baseline rates. Legacy cell tower infrastructure and LTE were examined separately, with vestibular schwannoma as a negative control, confounder adjustment, repeated-measures panels, and age stratification. Results: Growth in infrastructure density correlated with growth in total primary malignant brain tumors (r = 0.19, p = 2.2 × 10−8, 95% CI 0.122 to 0.250) and glioblastoma (r = 0.14, p = 5.5 × 10−5, 95% CI 0.070 to 0.200). The total-tumor association persisted after regressing out glioblastoma, though the non-GBM component attenuated to non-significance after full confounder adjustment. Vestibular schwannoma showed no significant association. The GBM association was significant for legacy cell tower infrastructure (r = 0.104, p = 0.0024, 95% CI 0.037 to 0.170) but non-significant for LTE, persisted after confounder adjustment, and was significant only in adults aged 70 and older. The GSM definition was post hoc, and its association was model-dependent. In the first-difference (repeated-measures) analysis, GBM was not significantly associated with legacy cell tower infrastructure (coefficient = 0.014, p = 0.70, 95% CI −0.060 to 0.088), while the association with all towers did not reach statistical significance (coefficient = 0.13, p = 0.052, 95% CI −0.001 to 0.251). Conclusions: County-level growth of cellular infrastructure is modestly associated with primary malignant brain tumor incidence. The legacy association was significant only in adults aged 70 and older; LTE and vestibular schwannoma showed no significant association. These findings are hypothesis-generating; causation is not established.
SN  - 2072-6694
ER  -