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Comparison of measuring instruments for radiofrequency radiation from mobile telephones in epidemiological studies: Implications for exposure assessment

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 18, pages 134–141 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

The debate on mobile telephone safety continues. Most epidemiological studies investigating health effects of radiofrequency (RF) radiation emitted by mobile phone handsets have been criticised for poor exposure assessment. Most of these studies relied on the historical reconstruction of participants’ phone use by questionnaires. Such exposure assessment methods are prone to recall bias resulting in misclassification that may lead to conflicting conclusions. Although there have been some studies using software-modified phones (SMP) for exposure assessment in the literature, until now there is no published work on the use of hardware modified phones (HMPs) or RF dosimeters for studies of mobile phones and health outcomes. We reviewed existing literature on mobile phone epidemiology with particular attention to exposure assessment methods used. Owing to the inherent limitations of these assessment methods, we suggest that the use of HMPs may show promise for more accurate exposure assessment of RF radiation from mobile phones.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Australian Centre for Radiofrequency Bio-effects Research (ACRBR) which is funded by a grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Imo Inyang, Geza Benke & Michael Abramson

  2. Australian Centre for Radiofrequency Bioeffects Research (ACRBR), Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Imo Inyang, Geza Benke, Ray Mckenzie & Michael Abramson

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  1. Imo Inyang
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  2. Geza Benke
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Correspondence to Michael Abramson.

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Inyang, I., Benke, G., Mckenzie, R. et al. Comparison of measuring instruments for radiofrequency radiation from mobile telephones in epidemiological studies: Implications for exposure assessment. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 18, 134–141 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jes.7500555

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jes.7500555

Keywords

  • radiofrequency radiation
  • dose phones
  • billing records
  • radiofrequency dosimeter
  • exposure misclassification
  • questionnaires

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