Effects of mobile phone radiation on heart rate: a radiation-detector controlled pilot study
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Abstract
Objectives: To investigate to what degree radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation, induced by a mobile phone placed on the chest, impacts cardiac rhythm. Design: n=1, single blinded pilot study Setting: Academic hospital, Maastricht, the Netherlands Participants: One healthy female 24 years old participant. Interventions: The participant underwent four experimental sessions, spread over four days. A session consisted of four consecutive 15 minute conditions, three with a sham phone and one with a dialling mobile phone. The participant was blind for the condition. During each condition, per-millisecond electrocardiac activity (lead V4) and radiofrequency radiation was recorded jointly. Primary outcome measure: Heart rate. The association with radiation was analysed at two levels, (i) at macrolevel, based on averaged condition effects, and (ii) at microlevel, focusing on radiation peak-related effects within the exposure condition. Results: The macrolevel analysis clearly indicated that heart rate was lowered during the radiation exposure condition. The heart rate during the preceding and subsequent sham phone condition was respectively 1.014 beats/minute (p < 0.001) and 1.009 beats/minute (p < 0.001) higher compared to the radiation exposure condition. In order to conduct radiation-detector controlled microlevel analyses, 142 critical segments were identified, in which a radiation-free period was followed by a radiation peak. The heart rate during the radiation-free period showed a mean increase, whereas the radiation peak period was associated with a mean decrease in heart rate (time*period interaction: p=0.001). Thus, the macrolevel finding was confirmed at microlevel. Conclusions: Mobile phone radiation may impact heart rate, suggesting urgent further study to assess physiological safety parameters.
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2014. Effects of mobile phone radiation on heart rate: a radiation-detector controlled pilot study. PeerJ PrePrints 2:e485v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.485v1Author comment
We would like to submit this pilot study as a PrePrint. This is not a submission for review, since we will need a larger population to replicate the findings. By publishing this PrePrint we would like to introduce the used methodology and receive feedback. In this study it is tried to get insight into the direct effect of mobile phone radiation exposure on heart rate. For the understanding of a possible development of pathology on the long term, it is necessary to have knowledge of short-term processes. A dialling mobile phone was placed on the chest for fifteen minutes on several days. We found a significant lowered heart rate under exposure, a finding which has been reported in literature before but has not been found significant thus far. Effect analyses in other studies are regularly based on averaged condition effects. In this study also the direct ECG response to a radiation peak, with the aid of a radiation detector, was investigated and made visible on a so called microlevel.
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Competing Interests
Jim van Os is an Academic Editor for PeerJ.
Author Contributions
Suzanne Roggeveen conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, analyzed the data, wrote the paper, prepared figures and/or tables, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Jim van Os wrote the paper, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Johan Gielissen conceived and designed the experiments, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Ron Mengelers conceived and designed the experiments, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Klaus Golombeck conceived and designed the experiments, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Richel Lousberg conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, analyzed the data, wrote the paper, prepared figures and/or tables, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Human Ethics
The following information was supplied relating to ethical approvals (i.e., approving body and any reference numbers):
1. Medical Ethical Committee Maastricht University Hospital / University of Maastricht
2. NL44004.068.13 / METC 13-3-021
Funding
This study is funded by Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
