The MOBI-Kids study protocol: challenges in assessing childhood and adolescent exposure to electromagnetic fields from wireless telecommunication technologies and possible association with brain tumor risk

• Main Authors: Siegal eSadetzki, Chelsea eEastman Langer, Revital eBruchim, Michael eKundi, Franco eMerletti, Roel eVermeulen, Hans eKromhout, Ae-Kyoung eLee, Myron eMaslanyj, Malcolm eSim, Masao eTaki, Joe eWiart, Bruce eArmstrong, Elizabeth eMilne, Geza eBenke, Rosa eSchattner, Hans-Peter eHutter, Adelheid eWoehrer, Daniel eKrewski, Charmaine eMohipp, Franco eMomoli, Paul eRitvo, John eSpinelli, Brigitte eLacour, Dominique eDelmas, Thomas eRemen, Katja eRadon, Tobias eWeinmann, Swaantje eKlostermann, Sabine eHeinrich, ELENI ePETRIDOU, Evdoxia eBouka, Paraskevi ePanagopoulou, Rajesh eDikshit, Rajini eNagrani, Hadas eEven-Nir, Angela eChetrit, Milena eMaule, Enrica eMigliore, Graziella eFilippini, Lucia eMiligi, Stefano eMattioli, Naohito eYamaguchi, Noriko eKojimahara, Mina eHa, Kyung-Hwa eChoi, Andrea eMannetje, Amanda eEng, Alistair eWoodward, Gema eCarretero, Juan eAlguacil, Nuria eAragones, Maria eMorales Suare-Varela, Geertje eGoedhart, A. Antoinette Y. N. eSchouten-van Meeteren, A. Ardine M. J. eReedijk, Elisabeth eCardis
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2014-09-01
• Series: Frontiers in Public Health
• Subjects: Children; brain tumors; adolescents; Mobile phones; ELF-EMF; RF-EMF
• Online Access: http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpubh.2014.00124/full

The rapid increase in mobile phone use in young people has generated concern about possible health effects of exposure to radiofrequency (RF), extremely low frequency (ELF) electromagnetic fields (EMF). MOBI-Kids, a multinational case-control study, investigates the potential effects of childhood and adolescent exposure to EMF from mobile communications technologies on brain tumor risk in 14 countries. The study, which aims to include approximately 1,000 brain tumor cases aged 10-24 years and two individually matched controls for each case, follows a common protocol and builds upon the methodological experience of the INTERPHONE study. The design and conduct of a study on EMF exposure and brain tumor risk in young people in a large number of countries is complex and poses methodological challenges. This manuscript discusses the design of MOBI-Kids and describes the challenges and approaches chosen to address them, including: 1) the choice of controls operated for suspected appendicitis, to reduce potential selection bias related to low response rates among population controls; 2) investigating a young study population spanning a relatively wide age-range. 3) conducting a large, multinational epidemiological study, while adhering to increasingly stricter ethics requirements; 4) investigating a rare and potentially fatal disease; and 5) assessing exposure to EMF from communication technologies. Our experience thus far developing and implementing the study protocol indicates that MOBI-Kids is feasible and will generate results that will contribute to the understanding of potential brain tumor risks associated with use of mobile phones and other wireless communications technologies among young people.