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Published in: Journal of Neuro-Oncology 1/2019

01-01-2019 | Clinical Study

Survival of glioma patients in relation to mobile phone use in Denmark, Finland and Sweden

Authors: Ann Olsson, Liacine Bouaoun, Anssi Auvinen, Maria Feychting, Christoffer Johansen, Tiit Mathiesen, Beatrice Melin, Anna Lahkola, Suvi Larjavaara, Anne-Sophie Villegier, Graham Byrnes, Isabelle Deltour, Joachim Schüz

Published in: Journal of Neuro-Oncology | Issue 1/2019

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Abstract

Purpose

Gliomas are the most common cancer of the brain, with a poor prognosis in particular for glioblastoma. In 2014, a study suggested reduced survival in relation to latency of mobile phone use among glioblastoma patients. A joint epidemiological/experimental project to study effects of RF-EMF on tumor development and progression was established. The current analysis relates to the epidemiological part and addresses whether pre-diagnostic mobile phone use was associated with survival among glioma patients.

Methods

Glioma cases (n = 806) previously enrolled in a collaborative population-based case–control study in Denmark, Finland and Sweden were followed up for survival. Vital status, date of death, date of emigration, or date last known to be alive was obtained based on registry linkages with a unique personal ID in each country. Cox regression models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) stratified by country. Covariates investigated were sex, age, education, histology, treatment, anatomic location and marital status.

Results

No indication of reduced survival among glioblastoma patients was observed for various measures of mobile phone use (ever regular use, time since start of regular use, cumulative call time overall or in the last 12 months) relative to no or non-regular use. All significant associations suggested better survival for mobile phone users. Results were similar for high-grade and low-grade gliomas.

Conclusions

We found no evidence of reduced survival among glioma patients in relation to previous mobile phone use.
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Metadata
Title
Survival of glioma patients in relation to mobile phone use in Denmark, Finland and Sweden
Authors
Ann Olsson
Liacine Bouaoun
Anssi Auvinen
Maria Feychting
Christoffer Johansen
Tiit Mathiesen
Beatrice Melin
Anna Lahkola
Suvi Larjavaara
Anne-Sophie Villegier
Graham Byrnes
Isabelle Deltour
Joachim Schüz
Publication date
01-01-2019
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Journal of Neuro-Oncology / Issue 1/2019
Print ISSN: 0167-594X
Electronic ISSN: 1573-7373
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11060-018-03019-5

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