Study type: Epidemiological study (observational study)

Subjective complaints of people living near mobile phone base stations in Poland epidem.

Published in: Int J Occup Med Environ Health 2012; 25 (1): 31-40

Aim of study (acc. to author)

A study was conducted in Poland to assess the health status and subjective symptoms of the inhabitants living in the vicinity of mobile phone base stations and to analyze the relationship between the complaints and level of exposure.

Endpoint/type of risk estimation

Type of risk estimation:

Exposure

Assessment

Exposure groups

Group Description
Group 1 distance between residence and base station: 50 - 100 m
Group 2 distance between residence and base station: 101 - 150 m
Group 3 distance between residence and base station: 151 - 200 m
Group 4 distance between residence and base station: 201 - 250 m

Population

Study size

Type Value
Total 500
Statistical analysis method: (adjustment: )

Results (acc. to author)

Electric field strength above 0.8 V/m (sensitivity of measuring set) was recorded in 12% of flats (23 out of 195 flats), the admissible value specified by Polish standards of 7 V/m was not exceeded. There was no significant correlation between electric field strength and distance of examined flats from the mobile phone base stations.
Headache was reported by 57 % of the subjects, mostly (36.4%) living 100-150 m away from the mobile phone base station compared to subjects living at longer distances. People living at a distance above 150 m away from the mobile phone base station reported more often impaired memory than subjects living 50-150 m away to the base station. No statistically significant differences between the four different groups were observed for all other investigated subjective symptoms and health status.
The authors conclude that further studies are needed to find an explanation why they did not find any correlation between the electric field strength and subjective symptoms but found a correlation between distance from mobile phone base station and subjective symptoms.

Study funded by

Related articles