Researchers have found a link between the number of minutes a person spends on a mobile phone, and risk of high blood pressure. If a person has high blood pressure they may be at increased risk of heart attack or stroke.
A study from the European Society of Cardiology confirmed that phone use could play some part in developing high blood pressure. They found specifically that Talking on a mobile for 30 minutes or more per week is linked with a 12 per cent increased risk of high blood pressure compared with less than 30 minutes.
A reason behind the link is not yet known for certain, with more research needing to be carried out. However, mobile phones are known to emit low levels of radiofrequency energy, which has been linked with rises in blood pressure after short-term exposure.
"It's the number of minutes people spend talking on a mobile that matter for heart health, with more minutes meaning greater risk," said study author Professor Xianhui Qin of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China. "Years of use or employing a hands-free set-up had no influence on the likelihood of developing high blood pressure. More studies are needed to confirm the findings."
This study examined the relationship between making and receiving phone calls and new-onset hypertension. The study used data from the UK Biobank. A total of 212,046 adults aged 37 to 73 years without hypertension were included.
The average age of participants was 54 years, 62 percent were women and 88 percent were mobile phone users. During a median follow up of 12 years, 13,984, or seven percent, of participants developed high blood pressure.
Mobile phone users had a seven percent higher risk than those without phones and those who talked on their mobile for 30 minutes or more per week had a 12 percent greater likelihood of new-onset high blood pressure than participants who spent less than 30 minutes on phone calls.
Almost three-quarters of the global population aged 10 and over own a mobile phone. Nearly 1.3 billion adults aged 30 to 79 years worldwide have high blood pressure
Professor Qin said: "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. 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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