No association between mobile phone usage and development of acoustic neuroma

Abstract

Question

Is the incidence of acoustic neuroma associated with mobile phone usage?

Study design

Population-based case-control study.

Main results

Risk of acoustic neuroma was not statistically higher among people regularly using mobile phones compared with those who never or rarely using one (OR 0.90, 95% CI 0.51 to 1.57). No increased risk was associated with the length of time since beginning regular use of mobile phones, total duration or number of calls (see Table 1). In people with acoustic neuroma, mean tumour size was bigger in regular mobile phone users (1.66 cm³) than non-users (1.39 cm³) (Wilcoxon, p=0.03) but the increased risk of developing a large tumour (⩾1.51 cm³) was not statistically significant (OR 1.87, 95% CI 0.75 to 4.64).

Authors’ conclusions

Mobile phone usage is not positively associated with the development of acoustic neuroma, regardless of the estimated total duration or number of calls, or the length of time since regular use began.

Table 1 Odds of developing acoustic neuroma according to mobile phone usage
Time since beginning of regular usage	OR	95% CI
Never/rarely used/<1 year	1.00
1 to 4 years	0.86	0.45 to 1.62
⩾5 years	0.68	0.32 to 1.44
5 to 9 years	0.86	0.39 to 1.93
⩾10 years	0.22	0.04 to 1.11
Life time cumulative number of calls
Never/rarely used	1.00
⩽2975	0.99	0.53 to 1.83
2975 to 11 550	0.79	0.32 to 1.92
>11 550	0.72	0.28 to 1.87
Life time cumulative hours of use
Never/rarely used	1.00
⩽167.5	0.93	0.49 to 1.74
>167.5 to 654	1.01	0.43 to 2.38
>1654	0.66	0.25 to 1.74