Mobile and Cordless Phone Use, and Sleep Problems in 7-Year-Old Children

Bron: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4625083/pdf/pone.0139869.pdf
PLOSONE|DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0139869 October28,2015

RESEARCH ARTICLE
Environmental Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields Exposure at Home, Mobile and Cordless Phone Use, and Sleep Problems in7-Year-Old Children

AnkeHuss1,2*, Manon van Eijsden 3, Monica Guxens 4, Johan Beekhuizen 1, Rob van Strien 5, Hans Kromhout 1,Tania Vrijkotte 6, Roel Vermeulen 1,7

1 Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht,The Netherlands,
2 Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine, Bern, Switzerland,
3 Department of Epidemiology, Documentation and Health Promotion, Public Health Service of Amsterdam (GGD), Amsterdam,The Netherlands,
4 Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology, Barcelona, Spain,
5 Department of Environmental Health, Public Health Service of Amsterdam(GGD),Amsterdam,The Netherlands,
6 Department of Public Health, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 7 Julius Centre for Public Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Centre, Utrecht,The Netherlands

Abstract
Background
We evaluated if exposure to RF-EMF was associated with reported quality of sleep in 2,361 children, aged 7 years.

Methods
This study was embedded in the Amsterdam Born Children and their Development (ABCD) birth cohort study.When children were about five years old, school and residential exposure to RF-EMF from base stations was assessed with age ospatialmodel (NISMap) and from indoor sources(cordlessphone/WiFi) using parental self-reports. Parents also reported their children’s use of mobile or cordless phones. When children were sevenyears old, we evaluated sleep quality as measured with the Child Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ) filled in by parents. Of eight CSHQ subscales, we evaluated sleep onset delay, sleep duration, night wakenings, parasomnias and daytime sleepiness with logistic or negative binomial regression models, adjusting for child’s age and sex and indicators of socio-economic position of the parents.We evaluated there main ing three subscales (bedtime resistance, sleep anxiety, sleep disordered breathing) as unrelated outcomes (negative control) because these were apriori hypothesised not to be associated with RF-EMF.

Results
Sleep onset delay, night wakenings, parasomnias and day time sleepiness were not associated with residential exposure to RF-EMF from base stations. Sleep duration scores were associated withRF-EMF levels from base stations. Higher use mobile phones was associated with less favourable sleep duration,night wakenings and parasomnias, and also with bedtime resistance. Cordless Phone use was not related to any of the sleeping scores.

Conclusion
Given the different results across the evaluated RF-EMF exposure sources and the observed association between mobile Phone use and the negative control sleep scale,our study does not support the hypothesis that it is the exposure to RF-EMF that is detrimental to sleep quality in 7-year old children, but potentially other factors that are related to mobile Phone usage.

See for critical and relevant comments:
stichtingehs.nl/blog/111-slaapproblemen-bij-kleine-kinderen-door-blootstelling-aan-radiofrequente-elektromagnetische-velden ,
and for the complete paper the link on top.

Op grond van bovenstaande studie trekken de auteurs conclusies over het gemiddelde kind, maar met EHS gaat het niet om gemiddelden maar om individuele personen, die individueel mogelijk zeer verschillend belast zijn geweest en waarbij bovendien niet alle factoren meegenomen zijn.



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