Mobile Phone Use and Risks of Overall and 25 Site-Specific Cancers: A Prospective Study from the UK Biobank Study

Abstract

Background: The association between mobile phone use and incident cancers remains uncertain. We aimed to investigate the relationships of mobile phone use with incident overall and 25 site-specific cancers in men and women. Methods: A total of 431,861 participants ages 38 to 73 years without prior cancers were included from the UK Biobank. Of these, 46.7% were male. Participants who used a mobile phone at least once per week to make or receive calls were defined as mobile phone users. The study outcomes were incident overall and 25 site-specific cancers. Results: During a median follow-up of 10.7 years, 35,401 (17.5%) men and 30,865 (13.4%) women developed overall cancer. Mobile phone use was significantly associated with higher risks of incident overall cancer [HR, 1.09; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.06–1.12], nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC; HR, 1.08; 95% CI: 1.03–1.14), urinary tract cancer (HR, 1.18; 95% CI:1.05–1.32), and prostate cancer (HR, 1.19; 95% CI: 1.13–1.25) in men, and incident overall cancer (HR, 1.03; 95% CI: 1.00–1.06), NMSC (HR, 1.07; 95% CI: 1.01–1.13), and vulva cancer (HR, 1.74; 95% CI: 1.00–3.02) in women, but not with other cancers. Among mobile phone users, there was a dose–response relationship of length of mobile phone use with incident NMSC in men and women, and prostate cancer in men (all Ptrend < 0.05). Conclusions: There was a dose–response relationship of length of mobile phone use with incident NMSC in men and women, and prostate cancer in men. Impact: Our findings underscore the importance of limiting mobile phone use or keeping a distance from mobile phone for primary prevention of NMSC and prostate cancer.