An old issue and a new look: Electromagnetic hypersensitivity caused by radiations emitted by GSM mobile phones

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Mortazavi, S.M.J.^{a; b; *} | Mahbudi, A.^c | Atefi, M.^b | Bagheri, Sh.^b | Bahaedini, N.^b | Besharati, A.^d

Affiliations: [a] Medical Physics & Medical Engineering Department, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran | [b] The Center for Research on Radiological Sciences, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran | [c] School of Paramedical Sciences, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran | [d] Cardiosurgery Department, Nemazee Hospital, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Prof. S.M.J. Mortazavi, Ph.D., Medical Physics & Medical Engineering Department, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Zand Street, Shiraz, Iran. Tel.: +98 711 2349332; Fax: +98 711 2349332/+98 711 2289113; E-mail: mmortazavi@sums.ac.ir; Home page: http://www.sums.ac.ir/~mmortazavi

Abstract: University students use mobile phones frequently. We previously showed that there was no association between mobile phone use and EMF health hazards among university students. As our previous study was based only on self-reported symptoms this double-blind study was designed to answer two basic questions. Firstly, are self-reported hypersensitive individuals capable of sensing whether there is a real/sham microwave exposure? Secondly, do hypersensitive patients show alterations in their biological parameters such as heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure during microwave exposure? The study consisted of a preliminary screening phase and two subsequent complementary phases. In the 1st phase, 700 students were screened for EMF hypersensitivity. Fifty two participants were hypersensitive individuals but after applying the exclusion criteria only 28 students were invited to take part in the 2nd and 3rd phase of the study, but only 20 students (71.4%) declared their informed consent. In the 2nd phase, these self reported hypersensitive participants, were exposed/sham exposed to microwave radiation emitted from a mobile phone for 10 minutes and they were asked if they could sense the existence of microwave radiation. In the 3rd phase, all students were connected to ICU monitoring devices and their basic physiological parameters were recorded precisely. Among self-reported symptoms reported in our previous study, in this study only problem in concentration (P< 0.05) and low back pain (P< 0.05) were associated with mobile phone use. Furthermore, there was a significant association between the location of mobile phone during talk and the overall score of the severity of the symptoms (P< 0.001). When the participants were asked to report their perception about the real and sham exposures, only 5 students (25%) could discriminate the real exposure/sham exposure phases. This relative frequency can be only due to chance. In the 3rd phase all of the 20 participants were connected to intensive care unit monitors and the changes in their heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure during real/sham exposure were recorded. No statistically significant changes between the means of these parameters in real/sham exposure were observed. Our findings clearly confirm the results obtained inother provocative studies. These data also indicate the possible role of psychological factors in electromagnetic hypersensitivity.

Keywords: Hypersensitivity, microwave, mobile phone, GSM, electromagnetic field, provocation study, vital signs

DOI: 10.3233/THC-2011-0641

Journal: Technology and Health Care, vol. 19, no. 6, pp. 435-443, 2011