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.
Last verified 12 August 2026.
- Authors
- INTERPHONE Study Group
- Year
- 2010
- Design
- case control
- Exposure studied
- Cumulative mobile phone call time, self-reported, 13 countries
- Place in the evidence base
- high
- Primary document
- https://academic.oup.com/ije/article/39/3/675/632606
Finding
No increase in glioma or meningioma overall. In the highest decile of cumulative call time (≥1640 hours) the glioma odds ratio was about 1.4, which the authors judged possibly explained by bias and error rather than a causal effect.
What it cannot establish
Exposure was recalled by participants, and recall bias is documented in the study itself; some odds ratios fell implausibly below 1.0 for moderate use, indicating methodological error. Handset technology has changed substantially since the exposure period.
Related records
- IARC classification of radiofrequency fields as Group 2B (2011)
IARC classified radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B) based on limited evidence for glioma and acoustic neuroma from heavy mobile phone use.
Research record
- Smartphone (cellular uplink)
Handsets transmit up to about 200 mW (23 dBm) on cellular uplink and are used against the head, so exposure is governed by SAR — 1.6 W/kg over 1 g in the U.S., 2 W/kg over 10 g under ICNIRP — not by power density.
Sources & emitters
Sources
- interphone-2010 Brain tumour risk in relation to mobile telephone use: results of the INTERPHONE international case–control study — International Journal of Epidemiology (INTERPHONE Study Group), 2010. peer-reviewed, link checked 2026-08-12.
- nih-nci-cellphones Cell Phones and Cancer Risk — National Cancer Institute. government, link checked 2026-08-12.
Same record, other formats