Title | Heart rate variability in healthy young adults exposed to global system for mobile communication (GSM) 900-MHz radiofrequency signal from mobile phones. | ||
Author | Wallace, Jasmina; Andrianome, Soafara; Ghosn, Rania; Blanchard, Erwan Stephan; Telliez, Frederic; Selmaoui, Brahim | ||
Journal | Environ Res | Publication Year/Month | 2020-Dec |
PMID | 32846174 | PMCID | -N/A- |
Affiliation + expend | 1.Department of Experimental Toxicology, Institut National de L'Environnement Industriel et des Risques (INERIS), 60550, Verneuil-en-Halatte, France; PeriTox Laboratory, UMR-I 01 INERIS, Picardie Jules Verne University, 80025, Amiens, France. |
Given the large number of mobile phone users and the increasing exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) worldwide, we aimed to study the effect of RF-EMF related to mobile phones on heart rate variability (HRV). Twenty-six healthy young adults participated in two experimental sessions with a double-blind, randomized and counter-balanced crossover design. During each session, participants were exposed for 26 min to a sham or real 900 MHz RF-EMF, generated by a commercial dual-band Global System for Mobile technology (GSM) mobile phone. We recorded an electrocardiogram at rest during the exposure. We evaluated HRV by time- and frequency-domain analysis. Evaluation of time-domain HRV parameters revealed a statistically significant increase of the standard deviation of interbeat intervals (SDNN) during the real exposure. Other time-domain parameters were not affected. Analysis in the frequency-domain demonstrated that total spectral power and low-frequency band (LF) absolute power were significantly increased during exposure (p = .046 and p = .043, respectively). However, other parameters were not affected. In conclusion, it seems that most HRV parameters were not affected by GSM signal exposure in our study. The weak effect observed on HRV frequency-domain is likely to represent a random occurrence rather than a real effect.