A study released in Clinical Neurology News has found that it does not appear that cell phone users have an overall increased risk of developing brain tumors. This is according to results from a meta-analysis of nine case controlled studies.The study was a result of pooled results from research that contained 5,259 cases of primary brain tumors and 12,074 control patients. It was done by Dr. Peter Kan and his associates at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City. What they learned was that cell phone users were 9% less likely overall to develop brain tumors than those who did not use cell phones. It was found, however, that cell phone users had significantly higher odds (22%) of developing low grade glioma (primary central nervous system (CNS) tumor) than did nonusers. Dr. Kan, a fifth year resident in neurosurgery, also found no increase in the risk for other brain tumor subtypes. He presented these findings at the annual meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons.

Five studies show results for patients with 10 years or more of follow-up. Those patients who had used cell phones for 10 years or more did show significantly higher odds (25% ) of developing any kind of brain tumor, compared to those who had used cell phones for a shorter period. Dr. Kan noted that this could be attributed to long-term users who probably used analog cell phones, an older version of the technology that emits more energy than digital cell phones. In any case, after researchers sorted the cell phone users into those who used analog and those who used digital - no increased risk of brain tumors was found in either.

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