The SCAMP Study: Capturing Use of Mobile Phones, Wireless Technologies, and Electromagnetic Field Exposures in Today's Adolescents

摘要

Aim: Scientists remain uncertain as to whether children's developing brains are more vulnerable than those of adults to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) emitted from mobile phones and other wireless devices. The Study of Cognition, Adolescents and Mobile Phones (SCAMP) is a three-year prospective cohort study of adolescents across London, UK which aims to investigate whether children's use of mobile phones and other wireless devices influences their neurocognitive/behavioural development. Methods: Data on cognitive function, wireless device use and lifestyle are collected at baseline (study year 1) and follow-up (study year 3) via school-based computerised assessments and optional parent/pupil home-based questionnaires. Parents are invited to consent to linkage of their child's school assessment data with routine records (e.g. health and educational records, mobile traffic data), thus allowing for comparisons between self-reported and objective mobile phone use in terms of call frequency and duration, number of text messages and amount of data downloaded. Biological samples (e.g. urine, saliva) are also being collected to provide additional information about potential confounders such as puberty. Additionally, a RF personal monitoring study is being conducted in a subset of the main cohort (n=200) to gain an in-depth understanding of personal RF exposure. Pupils are asked to carry a personal exposimeter with integrated GPS tracking for 48 hours, complete a smartphone activity diary and a paper questionnaire, and provide a urine and saliva sample. Study materials are distributed and collected from pupils at either their schools or their homes. These data will allow for differentiation of RF exposure from mobile phones and RF from other sources (near-field and far-field), and will be used to calibrate models estimating brain and whole body RF exposure metrics to better reflect 'real-life' exposure scenarios for epidemiological investigation in the SCAMP cohort study. Results: Baseline data have been collected from 5,504 pupils (53.2% female, mean age 12.0 (SD 0.4); 42.3% White, 20.3% South Asian, 15.9% Black, 11.5% Mixed, 9.9% Other). Preliminary analysis shows that over 80% of participants own a mobile phone. To date, data for the personal monitoring sub-study have been collected from 40 pupils. Conclusions: SCAMP will improve our understanding of children's RF exposures and will provide an evidence base to inform policy. In particular the personal monitoring sub-study will give a detailed assessment of children's personal RF exposure and the relative contribution of each RF source.