Tring Tring; Is Talking on Your Phone Talking to Hypertension?

“The number of minutes that people talk on their cellphone appears to matter for heart health, with more minutes adding up to greater risk,” says study author Xianhui Qin, MD, a professor at Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, China. But using cell phones long-term may not affect the risk of hypertension provided people talk for no more than 30 minutes per week, he says.

Increased Talk-time Could Increase the Risk of Hypertension

Researchers analyzed data from more than 200,000 participants in the UK Biobank.

Only people without hypertension were included in the study. Subjects were between the ages of 37 and 73, with an average age of 54 years old. The participants of the study were 95% white, 62 % were women, and 88% were mobile phone users.

At baseline, a self-reported touchscreen questionnaire was used to collect information on mobile use to make and receive calls, including years of use, hours per week, and use of a hands-free device or loudspeaker.

To try to find the link between mobile phone usage and hypertension, researchers controlled for age, sex, body mass index, race, socioeconomic factors, family history of hypertension, education, smoking status, blood pressure, blood lipids, inflammation, blood sugar, kidney function, and use of medications to lower cholesterol or blood glucose levels.

Researchers followed participants for a median of 12 years, and during that time about 1 in 14 people, or 7%, developed hypertension.

When compared to non-users, mobile phone users had a 7% greater incidence of hypertension. People who chatted on their phones for 30 minutes or more each week had a 12% higher risk of developing new-onset high blood pressure than those who talked for less than 30 minutes per week, and the results were identical for men and women.

Compared with participants who spent less than five minutes per week making or receiving mobile phone calls, these amounts of weekly phone call usage were associated with the following increased risks of developing hypertension: 30 to 59 minutes increased risk by 8%, 1 to 3 hours increased risk by 13%, 4 to 6 hours increased risk by 16%, and more than 6 hours increased risk by 25%.

How many years people had been using a cellphone and whether they used a hands-free device or speakerphone didn’t affect the risk for high blood pressure, says Dr. Qin.

Genetics + Increased Phone Use = Highest Risk of Hypertension

The authors of the study used the data to find out if the participants had a low, intermediate, or high genetic risk of developing high blood pressure. The analysis shows that the chance of developing high blood pressure was highest in those with high genetic risk who spent at least 30 minutes a week talking on a mobile. The numbers show that they had a 33% higher likelihood of hypertension compared with those with low genetic risk who spent less than 30 minutes a week on the phone.

Previous Research Has Shown Conflicting Results

Hypertension is a key risk factor for heart attack and stroke, as well as a leading cause of mortality worldwide. According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over half of all adults in the United States – 47%, or around 116 million individuals — have hypertension (3^✔ ✔Trusted Source
Facts About Hypertension

).

According to the authors, mobile phones generate low quantities of radiofrequency radiation, which has been associated with increases in blood pressure following short-term exposure, although the findings have been inconsistent.

A 2022 study discovered that higher mobile phone use was associated with increased blood pressure in children and teens, however, that study also included texting and gaming (4^✔ ✔Trusted Source
The associations between problematic smartphone use and blood pressure among 2,573 aged 9-17 years students in Shanghai, China

Go to source).

In contrast, another study published in BMC Public Health discovered the inverse: more usage was associated with decreased blood pressure (5^✔ ✔Trusted Source
The association between self-reported mobile phone usage with blood pressure and heart rate: evidence from a cross-sectional study

Go to source).

The “findings and the underlying mechanisms should be further evaluated in more studies,” wrote the authors. “In addition, our study focused only on making or receiving phone calls and did not investigate the impact of other uses of the mobile phone, such as texting, gaming, or surfing the internet on health endpoints,” says Qi.

How can Using your Phone Increase the Risk of Hypertension?

It could be that the position of the arm during phone use, combined with how the hand holds the phone, may increase sympathetic activity (the part of your nervous system that activates heart rate and blood flow). That could in turn trigger changes in the body that could raise blood pressure levels, says Qi.

“However, it’s worth noting that our study found no significant link between using hands-free devices or speakerphones and new-onset hypertension — suggesting that the telephoning position alone may not fully explain the association between long-term mobile phone use and hypertension,” he says.

“People who talk on their phones more may use their phones more in general, and as the authors mentioned, higher frequency mobile phone use may be linked to more adverse mental health and sleep disorders, which can increase the risk of hypertension,” says Liu.

Does this Mean you Have to Choose Between Your Phone and Your Heart?

“We hope that our study contributes to a better understanding of the potential health risks associated with frequent mobile phone use and encourages further research in this area,” says Qi. It’s important for individuals to be aware of these findings and consider limiting their call time if they are concerned about their blood pressure levels, he adds.

Is this study sufficient to urge individuals to keep within the 30-minute limit?

The authors recognize that this study has limitations, and it just proposes some hypothesis rather than establishing proof that talking on the phone for 29 minutes is any better than 30 minutes for blood pressure. There would need to be more in-depth studies looking into this specifically before firm recommendations like that can be made.

References :

1. Mobile phone calls, genetic susceptibility, and new-onset hypertension: results from 212 046 UK Biobank participants – (https://academic.oup.com/ehjdh/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ehjdh/ztad024/7131479)
2. Modifiable risk factors, cardiovascular disease, and mortality in 155 722 individuals from 21 high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries (PURE): a prospective cohort study – (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31492503/)
3. Facts About Hypertension – (https://www.cdc.gov/bloodpressure/facts.htm)
4. The associations between problematic smartphone use and blood pressure among 2,573 aged 9-17 years students in Shanghai, China – (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36159281/)
5. The association between self-reported mobile phone usage with blood pressure and heart rate: evidence from a cross-sectional study – (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36344963/)

Source: Medindia