Cellphones ‘Do Not Affect Cognition’: WHO Review Concludes

A man uses his cellphone in a file photo. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Exposure to mobile phones does not impact learning, memory, attention span, or other cognitive functions like coordination, according to a review commissioned by the World Health Organisation into studies examining radio wave exposure from mobile phones.

The systematic review aimed to undertake an updated health risk assessment of radio wave exposure, which will be used to help draft a new Environmental Health Criterion on the subject.

Conducted by Monash University and the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), Associate Professor Ken Karipidis said the review addressed a long-held community concern.

“One of the motivations for this research was to assess effects on the brain because mobile phones are usually held close to the head during calls,” he said. 

“One of the challenges of studying the effects of mobile phones on health is that it’s hard to separate radiation exposure from behavioural effects from social media and gaming on our cognition. [But] overall, [it] found that radio wave exposure from mobile phones does not affect cognition.”

Initial research found 3,945 papers on the topic, but only five used appropriate methods and so were included in the final analysis.

These studies involved 4,639 participants, consisting of 2,808 adults and 1,831 children, across three countries: Australia, Singapore, and Switzerland. They were conducted between 2006 and 2017.

Researchers examined studies that investigated learning and memory, executive function, complex attention, language, perceptual motor ability, and social cognition in relation to radio frequency exposure. Various tests administered to the participants detected “little to no effect” related to cellphone use, measured as calls per week or minutes per day.

Even among elderly people, mobile phone usage did not appear to affect cognition, although this finding had “very low certainty” due to only one of the five studies including this demographic.

Given the limited number of studies included in the review, further research is needed to address various populations, exposures, and cognitive outcomes, “particularly studies investigating environmental and occupational exposure in adults,” the researchers said.

Future research should also address uncertainties in exposure assessment and standardise the testing of cognitive functions to enable more accurate comparisons.

Concerns Linger

While this review suggests that cellphone radiation does not impact cognitive functions, other research warns that a high level of exposure caused by long periods of use can cause cancer (though findings are debated), eye strain, neck pain, back pain, and mental health issues, particularly among adolescents.

Numbers from Statista show that mobile phone users and penetration levels in Australia are constantly rising. From 19.9 million users in 2017, the number of Australian smartphone users is expected to increase by 3.7 million to 23.6 million by 2026.

For those concerned about the possible health risks, ARPANSA provides advice on how to reduce radiofrequency exposure.