Introduction
Objectives
Methods
Source population
Study centre | Definition of study regions | Size of the source population—age 30–59 (in thousands) | Source population | Source of controls |
---|---|---|---|---|
Australia | Sydney Statistical Division | M = 825; F = 839; Total 1,664 | Citizens resident in the study regions, capable of participating in a face-to-face interview in English. | Electoral lists |
Melbourne Statistical Division | M = 691; F = 720; Total 1,411 | |||
Canada | Greater Metropolitan Montreal | M = 755; F = 784; Total 1,539 | Citizens resident in the study regions | Electoral lists |
Ottawa, Eastern Ontario and Ottawa Valley | M = 267; F = 276; Total 543 | Residents of the study region | Random digit dialling | |
Vancouver, Lower BC Mainland, Greater Victoria area of Vancouver Island | M = 607; F = 619; Total 1,226 | Residents of the study region | The population-based BC Ministry of Health Client Registry | |
Denmark | Denmark without Greenland and Faroe Islands | M = 1,069; F = 1,041; Total 2,200 | Residents of the study region who speak Danish and have no previous history of cancer (excluding benign skin tumours) | Central Population Registry |
Finland | All Finland, excluding Åland and northernmost Lapland (source population covers 98.5% of population) | M = 1,134; F = 1,109; Total 2,243 | Residents of the study region | Central Population Registry |
France | Metropolitan region of Lyon | M = 232; F = 240; Total 472 | Citizens resident in the study regions | Electoral lists |
Metropolitan region of Paris – Ile de France | M = 2,320; F = 2,391; Total 4,711 | |||
Germany | Bielefeld: 5 “Kreise” (a German administrative unit similar to a county) Heidelberg: 18 “Kreise” Mainz: 10 “Kreise” | M = 1,440; F = 1,427; Total 2,867 | Residents of the three study regions with sufficient knowledge of the German language to undertake the interview | Regional population registries |
Israel | The entire Jewish population within Israel | M = 863; F = 909; Total 1,772 | Jewish citizens of Israel. | National Population Registry |
Italy | Municipality of Rome | M = 622; F = 652; Total 1,274 | Residents of Rome. | Population Registry of the Municipality of Rome |
Japan | Tokyo (23 wards and 14 cities); the adjacent 25 districts of Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa | M = 4,772; F = 4,478; Total 9,250 | Residents of the study region | Random digit dialling |
New Zealand | Greater Auckland; Hamilton, Rotorua, Tauranga; Napier, Hastings; Wellington, Palmerston North; Christchurch | M = 440; F = 460; Total 900 | Residents of the study regions for at least 6 months | Electoral rolls |
Norway | All of Norway south of Nordland county, except the less populated area served by Troms Hospital in the north | M = 1,287; F = 1,261; Total 2,548 | Residents of the study regions | Population registry |
Sweden | Four regions (Stockholm, Göteborg, Lund/Malmö, Umeå) which covers approximately 2/3 of the country. In the northern region, only the more densely populated areas are included | M = 1,220; F = 1,180; Total: 2,400 | Residents of the study regions, able to understand Swedish, and not completely deaf prior to diagnosis or reference date | Population registry |
UK-North | Central Scotland (Lothian, Fife, Forth Valley, Greater Glasgow and Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and Arran), West Yorkshire, Trent, West Midlands, containing both densely populated urban city conurbations and sparsely populated rural areas | M = 3,132; F = 3,206; Total 6,338 | Residents of the study regions | General practice patient lists |
UK-South | The ‘Thames regions’ of South east England, comprised of Greater London and surrounding counties. It is both urban and rural | M = 2,685; F = 2,780; Total 5,465 | Residents of the study region | General practice patient lists |
Case eligibility and ascertainment
Control eligibility and selection
Approach to subjects and informed consent
Collection of information on individual study subjects
History of mobile phone use
Validation studies
Information on socio-economic status (SES) and other socio-demographic factors
Diagnostic information
Localisation of brain tumours
Data quality assurance
Assessment of exposure from mobile phones
Exposure derived from mobile phone history
Absorbed RF energy
Missing data
Analytical methods
-
Exposure (absorbed RF energy from the phone) is highly localised;
-
The prevalence of phone use has increased rapidly during the course of the study;
-
If there is risk, most previous studies imply that it would be of low magnitude on the relative risk scale;
-
The mechanism for an effect, if there is one, is unknown; the relevant exposure metric is therefore uncertain.
Results
Case ascertainment
Study Centre | Number of cases | Delay between diagnosis and interview (months) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Median | Percentage of cases | |||||
−1 to 1 | 1 to 3 | 3 to 6 | More than 6 | |||
Australia | 301 | 4 | 1 | 41 | 30 | 29 |
Canada | ||||||
Montreal | 65 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 37 | 60 |
Ottawa | 25 | 8 | 8 | 16 | 8 | 68 |
Vancouver | 80 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 60 | 39 |
Denmark | 181 | 2 | 15 | 50 | 19 | 16 |
Finland | 178 | 0 | 75 | 16 | 4 | 4 |
France | 94 | 2 | 32 | 30 | 14 | 24 |
Germany | 256 | 0 | 69 | 6 | 5 | 20 |
Israel | 180 | 3 | 19 | 27 | 18 | 36 |
Italy | 118 | 6 | 15 | 15 | 19 | 50 |
Japan | 60 | 1 | 42 | 40 | 12 | 7 |
New Zealand | 84 | 4 | 0 | 27 | 58 | 14 |
Norway | 180 | 14 | 16 | 2 | 7 | 75 |
Sweden | 227 | 3 | 13 | 42 | 30 | 15 |
UK | ||||||
North | 429 | 2 | 5 | 62 | 20 | 13 |
South | 307 | 4 | 2 | 27 | 34 | 37 |
Total | 2,765 | 3 | 19 | 31 | 22 | 27 |
Control recruitment
Study Centre | Number of casesa
| Interval between interview of controls and date of interview of the cases to which they are matched (months) | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Median | Percentage of matched sets | ||||||
More than 6 months before case | 1 to 6 months before case | Within 1 month of case | 1 to 6 months after case | More than 6 months after case | |||
Australia | 297 | 0 | 11 | 10 | 35 | 28 | 16 |
Canada | |||||||
Montreal | 65 | 0 | 9 | 20 | 46 | 25 | 0 |
Ottawab
| 25 | 1 | 4 | 24 | 24 | 40 | 8 |
Vancouverb
| 80 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 17 | 51 | 24 |
Denmark | 179 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 51 | 30 | 7 |
Finland | 177 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 40 | 36 | 11 |
Franceb
| 94 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 60 | 33 |
Germany | 256 | 3 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 48 | 22 |
Israelb
| 180 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 30 | 59 |
Italy | 118 | 5 | 16 | 15 | 4 | 24 | 41 |
Japanb
| 60 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 47 | 50 |
New Zealandb
| 83 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 44 | 40 |
Norway | 154 | 0 | 16 | 22 | 23 | 19 | 20 |
Sweden | 222 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 31 | 34 | 18 |
UK | |||||||
Northb
| 421 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 76 | 17 |
South | 299 | 1 | 7 | 17 | 31 | 24 | 21 |
Total | 2,710 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 21 | 41 | 23 |
Participation
Study centre | Glioma | Meningioma | Acoustic neurinoma | Malignant parotid gland tumours | Controls | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. ascertained | No. (%) Interviewed | No. ascertained | No. (%) interviewed | No. ascertained | No. (%) interviewed | No. ascertained | No. (%) interviewed | No. from sampling frame | No. (%) interviewed | |
Australia | 536 | 301 (56) | 413 | 255 (62) | 179 | 127 (71) | 21 | 7 (33) | 1,608 | 669 (42) |
Canada | ||||||||||
Montreal | 101 | 65 (64) | 71 | 48 (68) | 41 | 33 (80) | 13 | 9 (69) | 391 | 234 (60) |
Ottawa | 38 | 25 (66) | 18 | 15 (83) | 21 | 17 (81) | 6 | 6 (100) | 259 | 180 (69) |
Vancouver | 134 | 80 (61) | 45 | 31 (69) | 41 | 34 (83) | 19 | 13 (68) | 680 | 239 (35) |
Denmark | 248 | 181 (73) | 155 | 121 (81) | 73 | 71 (97) | 15 | 15 (100) | 1,277 | 662 (52) |
Finland | 211 | 178 (84) | 252 | 231 (92) | 87 | 76 (87) | –a
| – | 1,337 | 559 (42) |
France | 155 | 94 (61) | 190 | 148 (78) | 140 | 111 (79) | – | – | 639 | 472 (74) |
Germany | 312 | 256 (82) | 275 | 250 (91) | 76 | 67 (88) | – | – | 1,869 | 1190 (64) |
Israel | 206 | 180 (87) | 390 | 350 (90) | 78 | 72 (92) | 20 | 19 (95) | 911 | 599 (66) |
Italy | 128 | 118 (92) | 124 | 110 (89) | 30 | 30 (100) | 11 | 11 (100) | 486 | 340 (70) |
Japan | 90 | 60 (67) | 102 | 82 (80) | 82 | 69 (84) | – | – | 568 | 287 (51) |
New Zealand | 132 | 84 (69) | 72 | 54 (75) | 21 | 20 (95) | – | – | 350 | 172 (49) |
Norway | 236 | 180 (76) | 191 | 148 (77) | 51 | 38 (75) | 21 | 11 (52) | 404 | 278 (69) |
Sweden | 298 | 227 (76) | 205 | 184 (90) | 107 | 102 (95) | 20 | 18 (90) | 617 | 407 (66) |
UK | ||||||||||
North | 628 | 429 (68) | 222 | 180 (81) | 116 | 102 (88) | – | – | 1,747 | 788 (45) |
South | 848 | 307 (37) | 390 | 221 (57) | 218 | 152 (70) | – | – | 1,211 | 582 (48) |
Total | 4,301 | 2,765 (65) | 3,115 | 2,425 (78) | 1,361 | 1,121 (82) | 146 | 109 (75) | 14,354 | 7,658 (53) |
Number of cases ascertained and controls selected (% interviewed) | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Age | Glioma | Meningioma | Acoustic neurinoma | Malignant parotid gland tumours | Controls | |||||
Women | Men | Women | Men | Women | Men | Women | Men | Women | Men | |
30–39a
| 398 (70) | 565 (67) | 313 (74) | 109 (79) | 139 (86) | 156 (81) | 21 (81) | 14 (79) | 1,601(54) | 1,663 (48) |
40–49 | 487 (70) | 750 (68) | 797 (78) | 251 (76) | 231 (81) | 227 (80) | 23 (83) | 21 (62) | 2,333 (58) | 2,100 (51) |
50–59a
| 816 (58) | 1,285 (62) | 1,239 (80) | 406 (75) | 325 (83) | 283 (83) | 26 (73) | 41 (73) | 3,573 (55) | 3,084 (52) |
Overall | 1,701 (64) | 2,600 (64) | 2,349 (79) | 766 (76) | 695 (83) | 666 (82) | 70 (79) | 76 (71) | 7,507 (56) | 6,847 (51) |
Type and location of interview
Study centre | Total number of interviews | Percentage of interviews that were | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mode of interview | Interviewee | |||||||||
Face-to-face | Telephone | Subject alone or with another person | Proxy | |||||||
Cases | Controls | Cases | Controls | Cases | Controls | Cases | Controls | Cases | Controls | |
Australia | 301 | 669 | 99 | 98 | 1 | 2 | 86 | 100 | 14 | 0 |
Canada | ||||||||||
Montreal | 65 | 234 | 95 | 94 | 5 | 6 | 63 | 98 | 37 | 2 |
Ottawa | 25 | 180 | 92 | 100 | 8 | 0 | 84 | 100 | 16 | 0 |
Vancouver | 80 | 239 | 100 | 100 | 0 | 0 | 98 | 100 | 3 | 0 |
Denmark | 181 | 662 | 100 | 100 | 0 | 0 | 94 | 100 | 6 | 0 |
Finland | 178 | 559 | 99 | 99 | 1 | 1 | 97 | 100 | 3 | 0 |
France | 94 | 472 | 97 | 88 | 3 | 12 | 89 | 100 | 11 | 0 |
Germany | 256 | 1190 | 100 | 100 | 0 | 0 | 90 | 100 | 10 | 0 |
Israel | 180 | 599 | 99 | 99 | 1 | 1 | 81 | 100 | 19 | 0 |
Italy | 118 | 340 | 61 | 35 | 39 | 65 | 56 | 95 | 44 | 5 |
Japan | 60 | 287 | 100 | 100 | 0 | 0 | 98 | 100 | 2 | 0 |
New Zealand | 84 | 172 | 100 | 100 | 0 | 0 | 79 | 88 | 20 | 12 |
Norway | 180 | 278 | 52 | 54 | 48 | 46 | 69 | 100 | 31 | 0 |
Sweden | 227 | 407 | 94 | 94 | 6 | 6 | 93 | 100 | 7 | 0 |
UK | ||||||||||
North | 429 | 788 | 100 | 100 | 0 | 0 | 92 | 100 | 8 | 0 |
South | 307 | 582 | 100 | 100 | 0 | 0 | 95 | 100 | 5 | 0 |
Total | 2,765 | 7,658 | 94 | 95 | 6 | 5 | 87 | 99 | 13 | 1 |
Quality of interviews
Subjects available for analyses
Glioma | Meningioma | Acoustic neurinoma | Malignant parotid gland tumours | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. cases | No. controls | Matched setsa
| No. cases | No. controls | Matched sets | No. cases | No. controls | Matched sets | No. cases | No. controls | Matched sets | |
Australia | 301 | 669 | 297 | 255 | 669 | 253 | 127 | 669 | 127 | 7 | 669 | 7 |
Canada | ||||||||||||
Montreal | 65 | 234 | 65 | 48 | 234 | 48 | 33 | 234 | 33 | 9 | 234 | 9 |
Ottawa | 25 | 180 | 25 | 15 | 180 | 15 | 17 | 34 | 17 | 6 | 180 | 6 |
Vancouver | 80 | 239 | 80 | 31 | 239 | 31 | 34 | 72 | 34 | 13 | 239 | 13 |
Denmark | 181 | 662 | 179 | 121 | 662 | 124 | 71 | 425 | 70 | 15 | 662 | 15 |
Finland | 178 | 559 | 177 | 231 | 559 | 231 | 76 | 559 | 75 | –b
| ||
France | 94 | 472 | 94 | 148 | 472 | 144 | 111 | 221 | 107 | – | ||
Germany | 256 | 1190 | 256 | 250 | 1190 | 250 | 67 | 144 | 67 | – | ||
Israel | 180 | 599 | 180 | 350 | 599 | 350 | 72 | 264 | 72 | 19 | 599 | 19 |
Italy | 118 | 340 | 118 | 110 | 340 | 110 | 30 | 68 | 30 | 11 | 340 | 11 |
Japan | 60 | 287 | 60 | 82 | 287 | 82 | 69 | 287 | 69 | – | ||
New Zealand | 84 | 172 | 83 | 54 | 172 | 52 | 20 | 32 | 17 | – | ||
Norway | 180 | 278 | 154 | 148 | 278 | 143 | 38 | 278 | 38 | 11 | 278 | 11 |
Sweden | 227 | 407 | 222 | 184 | 407 | 184 | 102 | 361 | 102 | 18 | 251 | 16 |
UK | ||||||||||||
North | 429 | 788 | 421 | 180 | 788 | 173 | 102 | 185 | 94 | – | ||
South | 307 | 582 | 299 | 221 | 582 | 220 | 152 | 582 | 152 | – | ||
Total | 2,765 | 7,658 | 2,710 | 2,425 | 7,658 | 2,410 | 1,121 | 4,415 | 1,104 | 109 | 3,452 | 107 |
Missing data
Glioma | Meningioma | Acoustic neurinoma | Malignant parotid gland tumours | Controls | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. cases | % With imputed values | No. cases | % With imputed values | No. cases | % With imputed values | No. cases | % With imputed values | No. controls | % With imputed values | |
Australia | 301 | 16.6 | 255 | 2.0 | 127 | 2.4 | 7 | 0.0 | 669 | 4.9 |
Canada | ||||||||||
Montreal | 65 | 12.3 | 48 | 2.1 | 33 | 0.0 | 9 | 0.0 | 234 | 4.3 |
Ottawa | 25 | 4.0 | 15 | 0.0 | 17 | 5.9 | 6 | 0.0 | 180 | 1.1 |
Vancouver | 80 | 3.8 | 31 | 9.7 | 34 | 0.0 | 13 | 0.0 | 239 | 4.6 |
Denmark | 181 | 8.8 | 121 | 9.6 | 71 | 5.6 | 15 | 6.7 | 662 | 6.3 |
Finland | 178 | 12.4 | 231 | 10.8 | 76 | 5.3 | –a
| 559 | 13.8 | |
France | 94 | 9.6 | 148 | 2.8 | 111 | 3.6 | – | 472 | 4.7 | |
Germany | 256 | 2.7 | 250 | 1.6 | 67 | 0.0 | – | 1,190 | 1.7 | |
Israel | 180 | 10.6 | 350 | 4.0 | 72 | 5.6 | 19 | 10.5 | 599 | 6.7 |
Italy | 118 | 23.7 | 110 | 5.5 | 30 | 10.0 | 11 | 0.0 | 340 | 9.7 |
Japan | 60 | 6.7 | 82 | 1.2 | 69 | 5.8 | – | 287 | 0.7 | |
New Zealand | 84 | 6.0 | 54 | 0.0 | 20 | 0.0 | – | 172 | 1.7 | |
Norway | 180 | 9.4 | 148 | 6.1 | 38 | 7.9 | 11 | 0.0 | 278 | 5.8 |
Sweden | 227 | 14.5 | 184 | 13.0 | 102 | 12.7 | 18 | 11.1 | 407 | 7.6 |
UK | ||||||||||
North | 429 | 7.9 | 180 | 2.2 | 102 | 2.0 | – | 788 | 3.4 | |
South | 307 | 12.1 | 221 | 2.7 | 152 | 5.3 | 582 | 6.4 | ||
Total | 2,765 | 10.6 | 2,425 | 4.9 | 1,121 | 4.7 | 109 | 4.6 | 7,658 | 5.3 |