Regularly using mobile phones linked to heart disease risk

By Study Finds

In an era where smartphones have become an extension of our hands, a new study is bringing some concerning news about what these devices are doing to our hearts. Researchers have found that frequent mobile phone use may lead to a higher chance of developing cardiovascular diseases (CVD), including heart attacks and strokes.

The study, published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, analyzed data from over 440,000 participants in the UK Biobank project. The results showed that individuals who used their mobile phones for an hour or more per week had a 10% higher risk of developing cardiovascular diseases compared to those who used their phones less frequently.

Before you panic and toss your beloved mobile device out the window, it’s important to understand the nuances of this research. The study doesn’t prove that mobile phones directly cause heart problems. Instead, it suggests a complex relationship between our phone habits, lifestyle factors, and heart health.

One of the most intriguing findings was that the link between phone use and heart disease risk was stronger among certain groups. Current smokers and people with diabetes who used their phones frequently had an even higher risk of developing cardiovascular issues. This suggests that mobile phone use might be amplifying existing risk factors for heart disease.

So, what’s behind this connection? The researchers propose several potential explanations. First, excessive phone use might be disrupting our sleep patterns. We’ve all been there – scrolling through social media late into the night, only to wake up feeling groggy and unrested. Poor sleep quality has long been associated with an increased risk of heart problems.

Second, frequent phone use might be contributing to psychological distress and neuroticism – a tendency towards negative emotions like anxiety and depression. These mental health factors have also been linked to a higher risk of heart disease.

Interestingly, the study found that these factors – sleep quality, psychological distress, and neuroticism – accounted for a significant portion of the relationship between phone use and heart disease risk. In other words, it’s not just the act of using your phone that might be problematic, but the ways in which it affects your overall lifestyle and well-being.

“Although the current study suggests that using a mobile phone may moderately increase the risk of developing CVD, more conclusive evidence with valid measurements of mobile phone use is needed before this association becomes a concern for the general public. Maintaining responsible mobile phone habits should be a valuable component of an all-encompassing approach to supporting cardiovascular health. Before diving into hours of mindless “doom-scrolling” on your smartphone today, consider redirecting this time toward a more heart-healthy activity,” writes the co-author of the study’s accompanying editorial, Nicholas Grubic, MSc, from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.

The researchers also discovered that regular mobile phone users and those who spent more time on their phones each week had a higher risk of increased carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT). CIMT is a measure of the thickness of the inner layers of the carotid artery and is often used as an indicator of atherosclerosis – the buildup of plaque in the arteries that can lead to heart attacks and strokes.

While these findings might seem alarming, it’s crucial to remember that mobile phones have become an integral part of modern life, offering numerous benefits in terms of communication, information access, and convenience. The team’s goal wasn’t to demonize these devices but to encourage more mindful use.

“Mobile phone use is a ubiquitous exposure in modern society, so exploring its impact on health has significant public health value. Radio-frequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) emitted by mobile phones cause dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, inflammatory responses, and oxidative stress, and are therefore expected to affect a variety of organs such as the heart and blood vessels. However, whether mobile phone use is associated with the risk of cardiovascular diseases remains uncertain,” says study author Yanjun Zhang, MD, from the Division of Nephrology at Nanfang Hospital and Southern Medical University.

So, what can you do to protect your heart health in the age of smartphones? The researchers suggest that reducing the time spent on mobile phones could be a simple yet effective way to lower your risk of cardiovascular disease. Additionally, paying attention to your sleep habits, managing stress levels, and maintaining good mental health could help mitigate the potential negative effects of frequent phone use.

Paper Summary

Methodology

The researchers used data from the UK Biobank, a large-scale health resource that collected information from over 500,000 participants across the UK. They focused on 444,027 individuals who had no history of cardiovascular disease at the start of the study. Participants answered questions about their mobile phone use, including how long they’d been using a phone, how much time they spent on calls each week, and whether they used hands-free devices. The researchers then tracked these participants for an average of 12.3 years, noting who developed cardiovascular diseases during this time.

Key Results

The study found that regular mobile phone users (those who used a phone at least once a week) had a 4% higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease compared to non-regular users. Among regular users, those who spent an hour or more on their phones per week had a 10% higher risk compared to those who used their phones less. The risk increased with more phone use, with those using phones for more than 6 hours per week having a 21% higher risk. Similar trends were seen for specific heart conditions like coronary heart disease, stroke, heart failure, and atrial fibrillation.

Study Limitations

The study relied on self-reported data about phone use, which may not always be accurate. It also only looked at phone calls, not other ways people use their phones, like texting or browsing. The study couldn’t prove that phone use directly causes heart disease, only that there’s a link. Additionally, the study population was mainly of European ancestry and healthier than the general UK population, so the results might not apply to everyone.

Discussion & Takeaways

The researchers suggest that the link between phone use and heart disease might be partly explained by how phones affect our sleep and mental health. They propose that reducing phone use time could be a simple way to lower heart disease risk. However, they emphasize that more research is needed to confirm these findings and understand the exact mechanisms involved.

Funding & Disclosures

The study was funded by several Chinese research programs, including the National Key Research and Development Program and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.

Source: Study Finds

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