THURSDAY, Sept. 5, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Weekly mobile phone usage is positively associated with incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk over 12 years, according to a study published online Sept. 4 in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology.

Yanjun Zhang, M.D., from Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, China, and colleagues examined the association of regular mobile phone use with incident CVD. The analysis included 444,027 individuals identified from the U.K. Biobank without a history of CVD who made at least one mobile phone call per week.

The researchers found that during a median follow-up period of 12.3 years, regular mobile phone users had a significantly higher risk for incident CVD (hazard ratio, 1.04) and increased carotid intima-media thickness (odds ratio, 1.11) compared with nonregular users. Weekly mobile phone usage time was positively associated with the risk for incident CVD, especially in current smokers and individuals with diabetes. Sleep patterns mediated 5.11 percent of the relationship between weekly mobile phone usage time and incident CVD, as did psychological distress (11.5 percent) and neuroticism (2.25 percent). 

“While the current study suggests that using a mobile phone may moderately increase the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, more conclusive evidence with valid measurements of mobile phone use is needed before this association becomes a concern for the general public,” Nicholas Grubic, from the University of Toronto and coauthor of an accompanying editorial, said in a statement.

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