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International audience; Background: The rapid increase in mobile telephone use has generated concern about possible health risks related to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields from this technology. Methods: An interview-based case-control study with 2708 glioma and 2409 meningioma cases and matched controls was conducted in 13 countries using a common protocol. Results: A reduced odds ratio (OR) related to ever having been a regular mobile phone user was seen for glioma (OR 0.81, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.70, 0.94) and meningioma (OR 0.79; 95% CI 0.68, 0.91), possibly reflecting participation bias or other methodological limitations. No elevated OR was observed 10 or more years after first phone use (glioma: OR 0.98, 95% CI 0.76, 1.26; meningioma: OR 0.83, 95% CI 0.61, 1.14). Odds ratios were below 1.0 for all deciles of lifetime number of phone calls and nine deciles of cumulative call time. In the tenth decile of recalled cumulative call time, 1640 hours or longer, the odds ratio was 1.40 (95% CI 1.03, 1.89) for glioma, and 1.15 (95% CI 0.81, 1.62) for meningioma; but there are implausible values of reported use in this group. Odds ratios for glioma tended to be greater in the temporal lobe than in other lobes of the brain, but the confidence intervals around the lobe-specific estimates were wide. Odds ratios for glioma tended to be greater in subjects who reported usual phone use on the same side of the head as their tumour than on the opposite side. Conclusions: Overall, no increase in risk of glioma or meningioma was observed with use of mobile phones. There were suggestions of an increased risk of glioma at the highest exposure levels, but biases and error prevent a causal interpretation. The possible effects of long-term heavy use of mobile phones require further investigation.

Background. A European feasibility study on environmental exposure to extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMF) and cancer was conducted. The study was motivated by public health concern about possible adverse health effects associated with ELF-EMF exposure. Methods A review of completed research in Europe was conducted. Information on the methods and accessibility of new epidemiologic studies were requested and reviewed. Results. Eight studies on environmental ELF-EMF exposure have been completed in Europe while 15 large studies are in progress. Although there is no known mechanism by which electric or magnetic fields of this frequency could play a role in the development of cancer or other adverse health effects, the results of the studies conducted so far provide some support for the hypothesis that they are associated with the incidence of childhood leukemia. Conclusions and recommendations. The best use of available data will be made through a pooled re-analysis of data, particularly those on childhood tumors. It is recommended to apply multiple methods for exposure assessment in view of the heterogeneity in the methods used in different studies. New multicenter case-referent studies should not be initiated until the results of the large on-going studies have been reported. Prospective cohort studies will have to be very large to identify moderate excess risks resulting from environmental exposure to ELF-EMF, and their feasibility should be discussed after the results of the on-going case-referent studies have been reported. A European collaborative approach will lead to greater statistical power and will assess the exposure-effect association under differing exposure patterns and distributions of potential confounding factors.

Introduction The risk of brain tumours related to mobile phone use has been assessed in several studies without conclusive results. As the radiofrequency field emitted by the phone depends strongly on the distance from the source, any effect should be highly localised and occur mainly in the part of the brain absorbing most of the energy. We assessed the distance from the exposure source (typical location of mobile phone when in use) and the mid-point of the glioma recorded in blinded fashion from radiologic images. Methods A total of 888 cases aged 18–69 years from seven European centers (Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden and UK) of the international collaborative Interphone study were included. Information on mobile phone use was obtained from interviews. Unconditional logistic regression was used with distance

BACKGROUND A number of epidemiological studies indicate an inverse association between atopy and brain tumors in adults, particularly gliomas. We investigated the association between atopic disorders and intracranial brain tumors in children and adolescents, using international collaborative CEFALO data. PATIENTS AND METHODS CEFALO is a population-based case-control study conducted in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland, including all children and adolescents in the age range 7-19 years diagnosed with a primary brain tumor between 2004 and 2008. Two controls per case were randomly selected from population registers matched on age, sex, and geographic region. Information about atopic conditions and potential confounders was collected through personal interviews. RESULTS In total, 352 cases (83%) and 646 controls (71%) participated in the study. For all brain tumors combined, there was no association between ever having had an atopic disorder and brain tumor risk [odds ratio 1.03; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.70-1.34]. The OR was 0.76 (95% CI 0.53-1.11) for a current atopic condition (in the year before diagnosis) and 1.22 (95% CI 0.86-1.74) for an atopic condition in the past. Similar results were observed for glioma. CONCLUSIONS There was no association between atopic conditions and risk of all brain tumors combined or of glioma in particular. Stratification on current or past atopic conditions suggested the possibility of reverse causality, but may also the result of random variation because of small numbers in subgroups. In addition, an ongoing tumor treatment may affect the manifestation of atopic conditions, which could possibly affect recall when reporting about a history of atopic diseases. Only a few studies on atopic conditions and pediatric brain tumors are currently available, and the evidence is conflicting.