Table 3.
Associations between RF-EMF exposures and ‘Tinnitus’ (symptom)
| Symptom | Symptom categories (N for unadjusted model/N for adjusted model) | Exposure | Exposure categories (N for unadjusted model/N for adjusted model) | UnadjustedOR (95% CI) for each exposure category | Adjusted OR (95% CI) for each exposure category | Confounders in model |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tinnitus |
No, hardly ever (-/194) |
Cordless calls >10 minutes weekly |
0 (-/61) |
Model invalid |
1 |
Cold/flu**+ |
| 1 or 2 times weekly (-/73) |
1-2 (-/102) |
1.05 (0.75-1.49) |
Use headset for calls*+ |
|||
| 3 or 4 times weekly (-/27) |
3-9 (-/79) |
0.70 (0.48-1.01) |
Decile (SES) |
|||
| Most of the time (-/27)) |
10-120 (-/79) |
1.05 (0.73-1.52) |
||||
| Tinnitus |
No, hardly ever (-/207) |
Minutes on cordless phone daily |
0-4 (-/141) |
Model invalid |
1 |
Cold/flu+ |
| 1-4 times weekly (-/101) |
5-15 (-/100) |
0.86 (0.64-1.13) |
Decile- |
|||
| Most days (-/28) |
16-240 (-/95) |
1.03 (0.76-1.39) |
Woken by phone |
|||
| Use headset for calls | ||||||
| Tinnitus‡ |
No, hardly ever (-/84 ) |
Minutes on cordless phone daily |
0-4 (-/72) |
Model invalid |
1 |
Cold/flu*+ |
| 1 or 2 times weekly (-/35) |
5-15 (-/45) |
0.60 (0.25-1.42) |
Use headset for calls* |
|||
| 3 or 4 times weekly (-/8) |
including |
16-240 (-/21) |
0.96 (0.33-2.76) |
Cordless phone frequency |
||
| Most of the time (-/11) | ||||||
| Cordless phone frequency |
Not exposed |
1 |
Age |
|||
| ≤ 900 MHz |
7.13 (1.5-33.7) |
|||||
| 1.8-1.9 GHz |
7.32 (1.9-28.4)* |
|||||
| 2.4 GHz |
3.56 (0.95-13.4) |
|||||
| 5.8 GHz |
4.39 (0.99-19.5) |
|||||
| Tinnitus |
No, hardly ever (-/88) |
Cordless phone frequency |
Not exposed (30/27) |
Model invalid |
1 |
Cold/flu*+ |
| 1 or 2 times weekly (-/36) |
≤ 900 MHz (20/19) |
4.10 (1.03-16.28) |
Use cellphone headset+ |
|||
| 3 or 4 times weekly (-/9) |
1.8-1.9 GHz (28/27) |
4.70 (1.34-16.43) |
||||
| Most of the time (12/11) |
2.4 GHz (54/53) |
2.46 (0.77-7.86) |
||||
| 5.8 GHz (18/18) |
3.83 (0.99-14.82) |
|||||
| Tinnitus |
No, hardly ever (217/213) |
Cellphone calls >10 minutes weekly |
0 (275/270) |
1 |
1 |
Cold/flu*+ |
| 1 or 2 times weekly (79/77) |
1-6 (65/65) |
1.24 (0.92-1.66) |
1.21 (0.90-1.64) |
Use of earpiece+ |
||
| 3 or 4 times weekly (26/26) |
7-35 (12/11) |
2.00 (1.01-3.94) |
1.56 (0.73-3.35) |
Decile- |
||
| Most of the time (30/30) | ||||||
| Tinnitus |
No, hardly ever (-/220) |
Cellphone headset |
No (-/327) |
Model invalid |
1 |
Cold/flu*+ |
| 1 or 2 times weekly (-/79) |
Wired (-/16) |
1.80 (1.00-3.26) |
Decile |
|||
| 3 or 4 times weekly (-/27) |
Wireless (-/13) |
1.61 (0.85-3.05) |
||||
| Most of the time (-/30) |
Bold font Sig. p < 0.05; *Sig. p ≤ 0.01; **Sig. p ≤ 0.001; + positive association; - negative association; ‡ Previous model recalculated including cordless phone frequency (see text); ‘Model invalid’ means it did not meet the criteria outlined in the methods.