Limiting duration of mobile phone use may help reduce CVD risk — Expert

NEW DELHI — Limiting the use of mobile phones in making and taking calls may help reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases, according to a top neurologist.

Taking to social media platform X, Dr. Sudhir Kumar from Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, said that limiting mobile phone use, along with other healthy lifestyle measures may be good for boosting heart health.

 “It is useful to limit the duration of taking and making calls in order to reduce the risk of CVDs,” said Kumar.

 “Ensure good sleep and minimise psychological stress,” he added, while also suggesting to quit smoking.

He said this citing a recent Chinese study, published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, which showed an increased association between mobile phone use and heart diseases like stroke, coronary artery disease, atrial fibrillation, and heart failure.

The number of mobile phone subscriptions has increased dramatically worldwide in recent decades and surpassed 8.2 billion in 2020, according to data From the International Telecommunication Union.

At the same time, heart diseases have also surged significantly worldwide, including in India.

Data from the World Heart Federation (WHF) showed deaths from cardiovascular disease (CVD) jumped globally from 12.1 million in 1990 to 20.5 million in 2021.

The study by researchers from the Southern Medical University in China showed that weekly mobile phone usage time was positively associated with incident CVD risk.

The risk was partly “explained by poor sleep, psychologic distress, and neuroticism”, the study showed.

Further, the team noted that “mobile phones emit radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs), which could induce hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis deregulation, inflammatory reaction, and oxidative stress” — these can affect heart and blood vessels, increasing the risk of CVD.

The study included 444,027 individuals without a history of CVD. After more than 12 years of follow-up, CVD risk was identified in 56,181 individuals (12.7 per cent).

Compared with participants who used a mobile phone less than 1 hour per week, those who used a mobile phone more than 1 hour had a significantly increased risk of incident CVD.

The risk of CVD was also found to be higher in people with diabetes and current smokers.

“Smoking and diabetes compound the risk of CVDs, and hence smokers should quit smoking and people with diabetes should keep blood sugars under control,” Kumar said.