High weekly mobile phone use tied to high blood pressure risk
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Key takeaways:
- Mobile phone use for making or receiving calls is associated with risk for high blood pressure.
- Hypertension risk was greater for high-frequency users.
An analysis of UK Biobank data show people who reported high weekly mobile phone use to make or receive calls were more likely to develop hypertension during follow-up, with greater risk for those at genetic risk for hypertension.
“It’s the number of minutes people spend talking on a mobile that matter for heart health, with more minutes meaning greater risk,” Xianhui Qin, MD, of Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, China, said in a press release. “Years of use or employing a hands-free setup had no influence on the likelihood of developing high blood pressure. More studies are needed to confirm the findings.”
Data were derived from Ye Z, et al. Eur Heart J. 2023;doi:10.1093/ehjdh/ztad024.
Qin and colleagues analyzed data from 212,046 participants without hypertension at baseline, using data from the UK Biobank. The mean age of participants was 54 years; 62% were women. Researchers defined participants who used a mobile phone at least once per week to make or receive calls as mobile phone users (88%). The primary outcome was new-onset hypertension.
The findings were published in the European Heart Journal.
During a median follow-up of 12 years, 7% of participants developed new-onset hypertension.
Compared with mobile phone nonusers, those who used a mobile phone at least once per week were more likely to develop new-onset hypertension, with an HR of 1.07 (95% CI, 1.01-1.12). Compared with mobile phone users, those who reported using their phone for less than 5 minutes per week, risk for new-onset hypertension was greater among those who reported using their mobile phone for 30 to 59 minutes per week (HR = 1.08; 95% CI, 1.01-1.16); 1 to 3 hours per week (HR = 1.13; 95% CI, 1.06-1.22); 4 to 6 hours per week (HR = 1.16; 95% CI, 1.04-1.29) and more than 6 hours per week (HR = 1.25; 95% CI, 1.13-1.39; P for trend < .001). Results did not change in analyses stratified by sex or after adjustment for age, BMI, race, family history of hypertension, education, smoking status or metabolic markers, including lipids and blood glucose.
Additionally, participants with genetic risk for hypertension who reported longer weekly usage time of mobile phones making or receiving calls had the highest risk for new-onset hypertension, according to the researchers. Among mobile phone users, years of use and employing a hands-free device/speakerphone were not significantly related to the development of hypertension.
“Our findings suggest that talking on a mobile may not affect the risk of developing high blood pressure as long as weekly call time is kept below half an hour,” Qin said in the release. “More research is required to replicate the results, but until then it seems prudent to keep mobile phone calls to a minimum to preserve heart health.”
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