University of Zurich, Institute of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Environ Health. 2011 Jan 25;10(1):10. doi: 10.1186/1476-069X-10-10.
The steady increase of mobile phone usage has led to a rising concern about possible adverse health effects of radio frequency electromagnetic field (RF EMF) exposure at intensities even below the existing safety limits. Accumulating evidence suggests that pulse-modulated RF EMF may alter brain physiology. Yet, whereas effects on the human electroencephalogram in waking and sleep have repeatedly been shown in recent years, results on cognitive performance are inconsistent.
This review compares 41 provocation studies regarding the effects of RF EMF exposure similar to mobile telephones on cognitive performance measures in humans. The studies were identified via systematic searches of the databases Pub Med and ISI Web of Science and were published in peer-reviewed journals between 1998 and the end of 2009.
Based on a critical discussion within the scope of methodological standards it is concluded that state-of-the-art-methods in bio-electromagnetic research on RF EMF effects and cognition have neither been specified nor fully implemented over the last 10-11 years. The lack of a validated tool, which reliably assesses changes in cognitive performance caused by RF EMF exposure, may contribute to the current inconsistencies in outcomes. The high variety of findings may also be due to methodological issues such as differences in sample size and the composition of study groups, experimental design, exposure setup as well as the exposure conditions, and emphasizes the need for a standardized protocol in bioelectromagnetic research.
At present, no underlying biological mechanism has been identified which mediates the effects on brain functioning as observed in electroencephalographic (EEG) studies. A future aim must be to identify this mechanism as well as a reliable exposure protocol in order to gain more insights into possible behavioral and related health consequences of high-frequency EMF exposure.
随着手机使用量的稳步增加，人们越来越担心射频电磁场（RF EMF）在低于现有安全限值的强度下暴露可能产生的不良健康影响。越来越多的证据表明，脉冲调制的 RF EMF 可能会改变大脑生理。然而，近年来，尽管在清醒和睡眠状态下的人体脑电图上的影响已反复得到证实，但认知表现的结果却不一致。
本综述比较了 41 项关于类似于移动电话的 RF EMF 暴露对人类认知表现测量的影响的激发研究。通过对 Pub Med 和 ISI Web of Science 数据库的系统搜索确定了这些研究，并于 1998 年至 2009 年底在同行评议的期刊上发表。
根据在方法学标准范围内的批判性讨论，可以得出结论，在过去的 10-11 年中，关于 RF EMF 效应和认知的生物电磁研究的最先进方法既没有被指定也没有得到全面实施。缺乏可靠的工具来评估 RF EMF 暴露引起的认知表现变化，可能是导致目前结果不一致的原因之一。研究结果的多样性也可能是由于方法学问题，例如样本量和研究组组成、实验设计、暴露设置以及暴露条件的差异，这强调了在生物电磁研究中需要标准化的方案。
目前，还没有确定的生物学机制来介导在脑电图（EEG）研究中观察到的对大脑功能的影响。未来的目标必须是确定这种机制以及可靠的暴露方案，以便更深入地了解高频 EMF 暴露可能对行为和相关健康产生的影响。
