prospective study of mobile phone user complaints in Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

To study the long-term effects of mobile phone exposure in regard to ear pain and pressure, facial pain, headache, hearing loss, tinnitus, vertigo, and hotness. Four hundred volunteer subjects who used mobile phones were recruited, 313 subjects completed 2 years follow up. The cheif complaints were ear pressure [42.0%], headache [38.1%], and hotness [36.2%]. Whereas only 17.9% of subjects had 1 complaint, 20.9% had 3 complaints. Forty-eight subjects [15.9%] had no primary complaints, but complained of a variety of minor symptoms, including anxiety, numbness, a heavy sensation, or itchiness. Six subjects had to reduce mobile phone usage and 9 had to stop using a mobile phone altogether. Bivariate correlation analysis of the 8 primary complaints revealed only 3 pairs that had a phi coefficient of above 0.3 headache and facial pain 0.339, p < .000001; headache and hearing loss 0.413, p <.000001; and headache and vertigo 0.325, p <.000001. There was no evidence of a dose-response relationship between call duration and complaints