New findings from an extensive study of data on more than 200,000 people,indicate that the time a person spends talking on the mobile phone could have a bearing on their risk of high blood pressure (BP).
The latest findings, published in ‘Digital Health’, the European Heart Journal hypertension, examined data from the UK Biobank — a national biorepository of biological samples and data for use in research. High blood pressure, medically known as hypertension, is linked to several negative health outcomes, including heart failure, heart attack, atrial fibrillation and stroke risk.
The researchers analyzed the follow up data from participants who were asked questions about their cell phone usage and how much time they spend on the phone making or receiving calls each day.The study team found a strong correlation between higher cell phone usage and new cases of high blood pressure, even after taking into consideration other factors such as genetic risk for high blood pressure.
The researchers looked at the responses from people who were on their phone for about 30-59 minutes, 1-3 hours, 4-6 hours or more than 6 hours per week. They found that the more time people were on the phone every week, the higher the chance they would have hypertension.
People on the phone about 30-59 minutes a week had an 8 percent increased risk for hypertension. People on the phone 1-3 hours had a 13 percent increased risk, while those on the phone 4 to 6 hours had a 16 percent increased risk and those on the phone over 6 hours every week had a 25 percent increased risk of high blood pressure.
The team also looked at if holding your phone in your hand or using a hands free device was connected to hypertension risk. But they found that the use of hands-free devices did not make for a significant shift in levels of new cases of high blood pressure.
The findings suggest that talking on a mobile for less than half an hour a week may not affect the risk of developing high blood pressure. The researchers hope that their study will help people make healthier choices now, and lead to new findings in the future.
Experts reviewing the latest study said while the findings are certainly interesting, more research will be needed to replicate the results, and before physicians can recommend curtailing phone calls for patients suffering from heart ailments. But until more research is available on the matter, it would be prudent to minimize phone calls.
Other data correlations from the study showed that participants who reported using a cell phone for less than half an hour each week were also found to have a higher level of education, were more likely to engage in high levels of physical activity, and tended to have a higher income level as well. People who spend more time on their phone were also more likely to be smokers.
Researchers clarified that their study had a few shortcomings and that more in-depth research would be needed to draw firm conclusions. Among the limitations that the study team reported were that the average participant in the study was white, middle-aged or older, and above the average health level of the British population. For another, the nature of the data makes it difficult to directly connect just the length of phone calls and the amount of cell phone usage with hypertension.
More research is also required to study the health impacts of extended phone time on younger people, including children in order to make recommendations on whether cell phone usage times need to be reduced, said the research team.