No link between mobile phones and brain cancer in the over-60s

In December 2018, the British Medical Journal Open published a scientific study led by ARPANSA investigating the relationship between brain cancer and mobile phone use.

The study was conducted in partnership with the University of Auckland, Monash University and the University of Wollongong, and looked at brain cancer diagnoses in Australians aged 20-59 between 1982 and 2013. The study found that the wide use of mobile phones in Australia has not increased the rate of brain cancer.

Since the publication of the original study, the authors have conducted further analysis to assess whether there has been an increase in the rate of brain cancer in Australians aged 60 and over during the same time periods.

"Our analysis shows that the rate of brain cancer in people in the 60 plus age group follows a similar pattern as the other age groups we looked at," said author Dr. Ken Karipidis.

"It shows that there has been no increase in brain cancer rates in Australia that can be attributed to mobile phone use."

The British Medical Journal Open has published a letter outlining the findings from this additional analysis.

This study provides further evidence that there is no link between mobile phone use and brain cancer and makes an important contribution to the body of knowledge on this topic.