Children whose mothers used cellphones frequently during pregnancy and who are themselves cellphone users are more likely to have behavior problems, new research shows.
The finding “certainly shouldn’t be over interpreted, but nevertheless points in a direction where further research is needed,” Leeka Kheifets of the UCLA School of Public Health, who helped conduct the study, said.
Kheifets and her team looked at a group of 13,159 children whose mothers had been recruited to participate in the Danish National Birth Cohort study. When the kids reached age 7, mothers were asked to complete a questionnaire about their children’s behavior and health, as well as the mother’s own mobile use in pregnancy and the child’s use of mobiles.
After the researchers adjusted for factors that could influence the results, such as a mother’s psychiatric problems and socioeconomic factors, children with both prenatal and postnatal cell phone exposure were 80% more likely to have abnormal or borderline scores on tests evaluating emotional problems, conduct problems, hyperactivity, or problems with peers.
Risks were higher for children exposed prenatally only, compared with those exposed only postnatally, but were lower than for children exposed at both time points.
Kheifets and her colleagues note that a foetus’s exposure to radiofrequency fields by a mother’s cellphone use is likely very small. However, they add, research has shown that children using cell phones are exposed to more radiofrequency energy than adults, because their ears and brains are smaller.
No comments:
Post a Comment