Effects of electromagnetic fields from mobile phones on depression and anxiety after titanium mesh cranioplasty among patients with traumatic brain injury

Abstract

Objective: To explore the effects of radiofrequency-electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs) from mobile phones on depression and anxiety after titanium mesh cranioplasty among patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Methods: Two hundred and twenty patients with TBI and titanium mesh cranioplasty who were hospitalized from 2008–2012 were recruited in this study. From November–December 2012, the relevant information was surveyed including socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle variables, injury-related information, RF-EMF exposure of mobile phone, Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) and Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS). Associations of RF-EMFs exposure after titanium mesh cranioplasty with SAS and SDS were respectively estimated by multivariable linear regression models.

Results: The patients with long durations of mobile phone use (β = −6.6, p = 0.002), long individual call duration (β = −5.3, p = 0.012), more daily calls (β = −3.6, p = 0.027), invariably answer call immediately (β = −3.9, p = 0.022) and high comprehensive exposure level (β = −4.8, p = 0.003) had a lower score of depression compared with those without a mobile phone. Moreover, an ipsilateral and contralateral answering phone enhanced the protective effect on depression. Individuals with a long duration of mobile phone use had a lower score of anxiety (β = −4.2, p = 0.008), while those with a bilateral answering phone had higher anxiety (β = 3.9, p = 0.012) in comparison to those without a mobile phone.

Conclusion: RF-EMFs after cranioplasty were significantly associated with the lower risk of depression and anxiety status among patients with TBI. Chronic and frequent RF-EMFs exposure may improve psychiatric disorders among patients with TBI.

• Anxiety
• cranioplasty
• depression
• electromagnetic
• mobile phone
• traumatic brain injury

Acknowledgements

We thank the staff of The Second Affiliated Hospital of College of Medicine, Zhejiang University for their continuous support and assistance to follow-up participants. We would like to particularly thank all participants and their family for their contributions and support.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest concerning the materials or methods used in this study or the findings specified in this paper. The study was funded by grants from the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (Grant No. 2011CB503706) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81172624).