TY - JOUR
T1 - Estimated whole-brain and lobe-specific radiofrequency electromagnetic fields doses and brain volumes in preadolescents
AU - Cabré-Riera, Alba
AU - Marroun, Hanan El
AU - Muetzel, Ryan
AU - van Wel, Luuk
AU - Liorni, Ilaria
AU - Thielens, Arno
AU - Birks, Laura Ellen
AU - Pierotti, Livia
AU - Huss, Anke
AU - Joseph, Wout
AU - Wiart, Joe
AU - Capstick, Myles
AU - Hillegers, Manon
AU - Vermeulen, Roel
AU - Cardis, Elisabeth
AU - Vrijheid, Martine
AU - White, Tonya
AU - Röösli, Martin
AU - Tiemeier, Henning
AU - Guxens, Mònica
N1 - Funding Information:
The Generation R Study is conducted by the Erasmus Medical Centre in close collaboration with the Municipal Health Service Rotterdam area, the Rotterdam Homecare Foundation and the Stichting Trombosedienst & Artsenlaboratorium Rijnmond (STAR), Rotterdam. We gratefully acknowledge the contribution of general practitioners, hospitals, midwives and pharmacies in Rotterdam. We also acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, and State Research Agency through the ?Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa 2019?2023? Program (CEX2018-000806-S), and support from the Generalitat de Catalunya through the CERCA Program. The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Funding Information:
This work was supported by Stichting Volksbond Rotterdam, the Dutch Brain Foundation (De Hersenstichting, project number GH2016.2.01), the NARSAD Young Investigator Grant from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (grant number 27853), the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw Vici project grant number 016.VICI.170.200, and TOP project grant number 91211021), the European Union Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007–2013 No. 603794 GERoNiMO), ACTION: Aggression in Children: Unravelling gene-environment interplay to inform Treatment and InterventiON strategies (grant number 602768), the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No.633595 DynaHEALTH, No.733206 LifeCycle), the Spanish Institute of Health Carlos III (CP13/00054, MS13/00053, CPII18/00018), and the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (EST-2016 RF-21, and EST/2013/2/22 CREST-Characterization of exposure to RF induced by new uses and technologies of mobile communication systems).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s)
PY - 2020/9
Y1 - 2020/9
N2 - Objective: To assess the association between estimated whole-brain and lobe-specific radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) doses, using an improved integrated RF-EMF exposure model, and brain volumes in preadolescents at 9–12 years old. Methods: Cross-sectional analysis in preadolescents aged 9–12 years from the Generation R Study, a population-based birth cohort set up in Rotterdam, The Netherlands (n = 2592). An integrated exposure model was used to estimate whole-brain and lobe-specific RF-EMF doses (mJ/kg/day) from different RF-EMF sources including mobile and Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) phone calls, other mobile phone uses than calling, tablet use, laptop use, and far-field sources. Whole-brain and lobe-specific RF-EMF doses were estimated for all RF-EMF sources together (i.e. overall) and for three groups of RF-EMF sources that lead to a different pattern of RF-EMF exposure. Information on brain volumes was extracted from magnetic resonance imaging scans. Results: Estimated overall whole-brain RF-EMF dose was 84.3 mJ/kg/day. The highest overall lobe-specific dose was estimated in the temporal lobe (307.1 mJ/kg/day). Whole-brain and lobe-specific RF-EMF doses from all RF-EMF sources together, from mobile and DECT phone calls, and from far-field sources were not associated with global, cortical, or subcortical brain volumes. However, a higher whole-brain RF-EMF dose from mobile phone use for internet browsing, e-mailing, and text messaging, tablet use, and laptop use while wirelessly connected to the internet was associated with a smaller caudate volume. Conclusions: Our results suggest that estimated whole-brain and lobe-specific RF-EMF doses were not related to brain volumes in preadolescents at 9–12 years old. Screen activities with mobile communication devices while wirelessly connected to the internet lead to low RF-EMF dose to the brain and our observed association may thus rather reflect effects of social or individual factors related to these specific uses of mobile communication devices. However, we cannot discard residual confounding, chance finding, or reverse causality. Further studies on mobile communication devices and their potential negative associations with brain development are warranted, regardless whether associations are due to RF-EMF exposure or to other factors related to their use.
AB - Objective: To assess the association between estimated whole-brain and lobe-specific radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) doses, using an improved integrated RF-EMF exposure model, and brain volumes in preadolescents at 9–12 years old. Methods: Cross-sectional analysis in preadolescents aged 9–12 years from the Generation R Study, a population-based birth cohort set up in Rotterdam, The Netherlands (n = 2592). An integrated exposure model was used to estimate whole-brain and lobe-specific RF-EMF doses (mJ/kg/day) from different RF-EMF sources including mobile and Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) phone calls, other mobile phone uses than calling, tablet use, laptop use, and far-field sources. Whole-brain and lobe-specific RF-EMF doses were estimated for all RF-EMF sources together (i.e. overall) and for three groups of RF-EMF sources that lead to a different pattern of RF-EMF exposure. Information on brain volumes was extracted from magnetic resonance imaging scans. Results: Estimated overall whole-brain RF-EMF dose was 84.3 mJ/kg/day. The highest overall lobe-specific dose was estimated in the temporal lobe (307.1 mJ/kg/day). Whole-brain and lobe-specific RF-EMF doses from all RF-EMF sources together, from mobile and DECT phone calls, and from far-field sources were not associated with global, cortical, or subcortical brain volumes. However, a higher whole-brain RF-EMF dose from mobile phone use for internet browsing, e-mailing, and text messaging, tablet use, and laptop use while wirelessly connected to the internet was associated with a smaller caudate volume. Conclusions: Our results suggest that estimated whole-brain and lobe-specific RF-EMF doses were not related to brain volumes in preadolescents at 9–12 years old. Screen activities with mobile communication devices while wirelessly connected to the internet lead to low RF-EMF dose to the brain and our observed association may thus rather reflect effects of social or individual factors related to these specific uses of mobile communication devices. However, we cannot discard residual confounding, chance finding, or reverse causality. Further studies on mobile communication devices and their potential negative associations with brain development are warranted, regardless whether associations are due to RF-EMF exposure or to other factors related to their use.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85086595970&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/1765/127985
U2 - 10.1016/j.envint.2020.105808
DO - 10.1016/j.envint.2020.105808
M3 - Article
C2 - 32554140
AN - SCOPUS:85086595970
VL - 142
JO - Environment international
JF - Environment international
SN - 0160-4120
M1 - 105808
ER -