Mobile phones use during pregnancy linked to behavioural problems in kids: Study

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDDec 7 2010

A new study finds that pregnant mums who regularly use mobile phones may be more likely to have children with behavioural problems, especially if these kids themselves start using mobile phones in their first seven years.

American scientists from the University of Southern California found a 30 per cent greater chance of behavioural difficulties at the age of seven in babies exposed to mobile phones in the womb. The study showed that those exposed regularly before birth and in early childhood were 50 per cent more likely to have behavioural problems at the age of seven than those never exposed before and after birth.

They looked at 28,745 seven-year-olds and their mothers, who were part of the Danish National Birth Cohort study. The cohort enrolled 100,000 pregnant women between 1996 and 2002 and monitored their behaviour and their children’s health over eight years. Questions included mobile phone use, breastfeeding practices and time spent with kids. The results showed 18 percent of the children were exposed to cell phones before and after birth, up from 10 percent in the 2008, and 35 percent of seven-year-olds were using a cell phone, up from 30.5 percent in 2008. Virtually none of the children in either study used a cell phone for more than an hour a week.

Their study was published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. The authors write, “Although it is premature to interpret these results as causal, we are concerned early exposure to cell phones could carry a risk, which, if real, would be of public health concern given the widespread use of this technology.”

Australian experts differ in their suggestion. According to the executive director of the Australian Centre for Radio Frequency Bioeffects Research, Rodney Croft, who is also a professor of health psychology at the University of Wollongong, the data was not strong enough to indicate a link between mobile phone exposure and behavioural problems. He pointed out flaws in the study methodology saying that mothers were asked about mobile phone use rather than document it in a more accurate timely manner. He said one plausible explanation might be that women who were on the phone a lot while pregnant were going through a relationship break-up, influencing a child’s behaviour once born.

However there are experts who commend the study methods. Dr. Andrew Adesman, chief of developmental and behavioural pediatrics at the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York in New Hyde park said, “The study’s methodology was rigorous and responsible. The researchers took into account as many possible variables as they could, given the limitations of the data set.”