Mobile Phone Use Tied to High Blood Pressure Risk

Summary

Goals

The relationship between mobile phone use to make or receive calls and the risk of hypertension remains uncertain. We aimed to examine the associations of mobile phone use to make or receive calls and frequency of use with new-onset hypertension in the general population, using data from the UK Biobank.

Methods and results

A total of 212,046 participants without prior hypertension were included in the UK Biobank. Participants who had been using a mobile phone at least once a week to make or receive calls were defined as mobile phone users. The primary outcome was new-onset hypertension. During a median follow-up of 12.0 years , 13,984 participants developed new-onset hypertension.

Compared with non-mobile phone users, a significantly higher risk of new-onset hypertension was found in mobile phone users [hazards ratio (HR), 1.07; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.01-1.12].

Among mobile phone users, compared to those with a weekly mobile phone use time for making or receiving calls <5 minutes, significantly higher risks of new-onset hypertension were found in participants with a weekly mobile phone use time of <5 minutes. 30 to 59 minutes (HR, 1.08; 95% CI: 1.01–1.16), 1–3 h (HR, 1.13; P for trend <0.001).

Additionally, participants with a high genetic risk of hypertension and greater weekly use of mobile phones to make or receive calls had the highest risk of new-onset hypertension.

Conclusions

Using mobile phones to make or receive calls was significantly associated with an increased risk of new-onset hypertension, especially among high-frequency users.

Discussion

In this large, population-based prospective cohort study, we first demonstrated that mobile phone use to make or receive calls was significantly associated with an increased risk of new-onset hypertension. More importantly, among mobile phone users, there was a significantly positive association between weekly mobile phone use time to make or receive calls and new-onset hypertension. Furthermore, the association between weekly use of mobile phones to make or receive calls and the risk of hypertension was strengthened by genetic susceptibility to hypertension.

However, there were no significant associations between the duration of mobile phone use or the use of hands-free devices/speakers to make or receive calls and the risk of new-onset hypertension. These findings suggested that it is the frequency of mobile phone use to make or receive calls, rather than the duration of onset of mobile phone use, that determines the effect of mobile phone use on the risk of hypertension. In other words, healthy long-term mobile phone use to make or receive calls may not affect the risk of hypertension as long as it is used for no more than 30 minutes a week to make or receive calls.

Comments

Talking on a mobile phone for 30 minutes or more a week is linked to a 12% increase in the risk of high blood pressure compared to less than 30 minutes, according to research published today in European Heart Journal – Digital Health , a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

"It’s the number of minutes people spend talking on a mobile phone that matters for heart health, and more minutes mean higher risk," said study author Professor Xianhui Qin of Southern Medical University. Guangzhou, China. “Years of use or employing a hands-free setup did not influence the likelihood of developing high blood pressure. More studies are needed to confirm the findings.”

Almost three quarters of the world’s population aged 10 and over owns a mobile phone. Nearly 1.3 billion adults ages 30 to 79 worldwide have high blood pressure (hypertension). 3 Hypertension is a major risk factor for heart attack and stroke and a leading cause of premature death worldwide. Mobile phones emit low levels of radiofrequency energy, which has been linked to increases in blood pressure after short exposure. The results of previous studies on mobile phone use and blood pressure were inconsistent, possibly because they included calls, text messages, games, etc.

This study examined the relationship between making and receiving telephone calls and new-onset hypertension. The study used data from the UK Biobank. A total of 212,046 adults aged 37 to 73 years without hypertension were included. Information on using a mobile phone to make and receive calls was collected via a self-reported touchscreen questionnaire at baseline, including years of use, hours per week, and use of a hands-free/hands-free device. speaker phone. Participants who used a mobile phone at least once a week to make or receive calls were defined as mobile phone users.

The researchers analyzed the relationship between mobile phone use and new-onset hypertension after adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, race, deprivation, family history of hypertension, education, smoking, blood pressure, blood lipids, inflammation, blood glucose, kidney function, and use of medications to lower cholesterol or blood glucose levels.

The average age of the participants was 54 years , 62% were women, and 88% were mobile phone users. During a median follow-up of 12 years, 13,984 (7%) participants developed hypertension. Mobile phone users had a 7% higher risk of hypertension compared to non-users. Those who talked on their mobile phone for 30 minutes or more per week were 12% more likely to have new-onset high blood pressure than participants who spent less than 30 minutes on phone calls. The results were similar for women and men.

Looking at the findings in more detail, compared to participants who spent less than 5 minutes per week making or receiving mobile phone calls, weekly usage time of 30-59 minutes, 1-3 hours, 4-6 hours and more of 6 hours was associated with an 8%, 13%, 16% and 25% increased risk of high blood pressure, respectively. Among mobile phone users, years of use and use of a hands-free/speakerphone device were not significantly related to the development of hypertension.

The researchers also examined the relationship between wear time (less than 30 minutes vs. 30 minutes or more) and new-onset hypertension based on whether participants had a low, intermediate, or high genetic risk for developing hypertension. Genetic risk was determined using data from the UK Biobank. The analysis showed that the likelihood of developing high blood pressure was higher in those at high genetic risk who spent at least 30 minutes a week talking on a mobile phone: they were 33% more likely to develop hypertension compared to those at low genetic risk. who spent at least 30 minutes a week talking on the phone. 

Professor Qin said: “Our findings suggest that talking on a mobile phone may not affect the risk of developing high blood pressure as long as the weekly call time remains below half an hour. "More research is required to replicate the results, but until then it seems prudent to keep cell phone calls to a minimum to preserve heart health."