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Danish cohort study of mobile subscribers (2011 update)

A nationwide cohort using subscription records rather than recall found no elevated brain tumour incidence among long-term subscribers, including those with 13 or more years of subscription.

cohort2011high

Last verified 12 August 2026.

Authors
Frei P, Poulsen AH, Johansen C, et al.
Year
2011
Design
cohort
Exposure studied
Mobile phone subscription duration from operator records, Danish population
Place in the evidence base
high
Primary document
https://www.bmj.com/content/343/bmj.d6387

Finding

No increased risk of tumours of the central nervous system among long-term subscribers.

What it cannot establish

Subscription is a crude proxy for use: corporate subscriptions were excluded and non-subscribing users misclassified, both of which dilute any true effect. No data on call time or on which side of the head was used.

Related records

  • INTERPHONE international case–control study (2010)

    The largest case–control study of mobile phone use and brain tumours found no overall increase in glioma or meningioma, with a raised glioma odds ratio confined to the highest decile of reported call time.

    Research record

Sources

  1. danish-cohort-2011 Use of mobile phones and risk of brain tumours: update of Danish cohort study BMJ, 2011. peer-reviewed, link checked 2026-08-12.

Same record, other formats