Subjective Neurological Symptoms Among Mobile Phone Users

Background: A lot of investigations exist on the biological effects of radiofrequency and microwave radiation; however only a few studies have considered non-carcinogenic exposure to radiations specifically from mobile phones. Objectives: To introduce some subjective neurological symptoms in mobile phone users. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive study conducted from March to August 2012; an eight-item questionnaire was administered to one thousand individuals. The questionnaire included the items concerning current status of mobile phone use, the participantsʹ demographic and occupational data and characteristics of their complaints. Data analysis was done using the Chi-square test and unpaired two-sided t-test in SPSS software version 19. Results: A total of 731 participants with mean age of 36.52 ± 10.97 years accepted to contribute in the study. The mean duration of mobile phone use was 21.39 ± 16.87 months, and the mean daily duration of use was 42.18 ± 7.15 minutes. Two hundreds and thirteen participants (29.4%) had some complaints. Headache (9.4%), fatigue (6.4%), and scalp warmness (5.3%) were the most frequent complaints. The symptoms were more frequent among men. The number and percent of symptomatic patients increased with increasing daily using time, but not with change of overall duration of mobile usage. Conclusions: Headache, fatigue, and scalp warmness were reported as the most frequent complaints among mobile phone users. The prevalence of symptoms was related to daily using time, but not to overall duration of mobile usage.