Part 3: The Lonn study: commentary from Sam Milham
Letters to the Editor
American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 162, No. 6, August 17, 2005
A cursory glance at the recent paper in the Journal by Lonn et al (1) reveals that, in tables 2-4, only four of 136 calculated odds ratios are above 1.0. If there is no relation between cell phone use and the development of brain tumors, I would expect as many odds ratios above as below 1.o. This finding suggests that either cell phone use protects against brain cancer or there is a problem with exposure assessment. Tables 5 and 6 in their paper show that the odds ratios for long-term ipsilateral cell phone use are nearly always systematically higher than those for contralateral use. In table 5, where the numbers of cases for analysis are larger than those in table 6, the ratios of ipsilateral / contlateral odds ratios for long-term use andlong-term duration since first use are as follows: (table not shown here)
Although the authors do not say so, I think that their study shows that Ipsilateral cell phone use is associated with brain tumor development.
Samuel Milham
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