Headache in the international cohort study of mobile phone use and health (COSMOS) in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom
Abstract
Headache is a common condition with a substantial burden of disease worldwide. Concerns have been raised over the potential impact of long-term mobile phone use on headache due to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs). We explored prospectively the association between mobile phone use at baseline (2009-2012) and headache at follow-up (2015-2018) by analysing pooled data consisting of the Dutch and UK cohorts of the Cohort Study of Mobile Phone Use and Health (COSMOS) (N = 78,437). Frequency of headache, migraine, and information on mobile phone use, including use of hands-free devices and frequency of texting, were self-reported. We collected objective operator data to obtain regression calibrated estimates of voice call duration. In the model mutually adjusted for call-time and text messaging, participants in the high category of call-time showed an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 1.04 (95 % CI: 0.94-1.15), with no clear trend of reporting headache with increasing call-time. However, we found an increased risk of weekly headache (OR = 1.40, 95 % CI: 1.25-1.56) in the high category of text messaging, with a clear increase in reporting headache with increasing texting. Due to the negligible exposure to RF-EMFs from texting, our results suggest that mechanisms other than RF-EMFs are responsible for the increased risk of headache that we found among mobile phone users.
Related
- Mobile Device Use in Children Aged 0-11 Years-Surveys in the Netherlands and Spain.
- 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)
- Mobile phone use and brain tumour risk – COSMOS, a prospective cohort study
BibTeX
@article{traini2026headache,
title = {{Headache in the international cohort study of mobile phone use and health (COSMOS) in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom}},
author = {Eugenio Traini and Rachel B. Smith and Roel Vermeulen and Hans Kromhout and Joachim Schüz and Maria Feychting and Anssi Auvinen and Aslak Harbo Poulsen and Isabelle Deltour and David C. Muller and Joël Heller and Giorgio Tettamanti and Paul Elliott and Anke Huss and Mireille B. Toledano},
journal = {Environmental Research},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.envres.2024.118290},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05795602v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Headache in the international cohort study of mobile phone use and health (COSMOS) in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom
AU - Eugenio Traini
AU - Rachel B. Smith
AU - Roel Vermeulen
AU - Hans Kromhout
AU - Joachim Schüz
AU - Maria Feychting
AU - Anssi Auvinen
AU - Aslak Harbo Poulsen
AU - Isabelle Deltour
AU - David C. Muller
AU - Joël Heller
AU - Giorgio Tettamanti
AU - Paul Elliott
AU - Anke Huss
AU - Mireille B. Toledano
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/12
JO - Environmental Research
DO - 10.1016/j.envres.2024.118290
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05795602v1
AB - Headache is a common condition with a substantial burden of disease worldwide. Concerns have been raised over the potential impact of long-term mobile phone use on headache due to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs). We explored prospectively the association between mobile phone use at baseline (2009-2012) and headache at follow-up (2015-2018) by analysing pooled data consisting of the Dutch and UK cohorts of the Cohort Study of Mobile Phone Use and Health (COSMOS) (N = 78,437). Frequency of headache, migraine, and information on mobile phone use, including use of hands-free devices and frequency of texting, were self-reported. We collected objective operator data to obtain regression calibrated estimates of voice call duration. In the model mutually adjusted for call-time and text messaging, participants in the high category of call-time showed an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 1.04 (95 % CI: 0.94-1.15), with no clear trend of reporting headache with increasing call-time. However, we found an increased risk of weekly headache (OR = 1.40, 95 % CI: 1.25-1.56) in the high category of text messaging, with a clear increase in reporting headache with increasing texting. Due to the negligible exposure to RF-EMFs from texting, our results suggest that mechanisms other than RF-EMFs are responsible for the increased risk of headache that we found among mobile phone users.
SN - 0013-9351
SN - 1096-0953
ER -