Secondary School Cohort Study of Mobile Phone Use and Neurocognitive and Behavioural Outcomes

Introduction: There is uncertainty about whether children's developing brains are more vulnerable than those of adults to radiofrequency (RF) exposure from mobile phones and other wireless technologies. The Study of Cognition, Adolescents and Mobile Phones (SCAMP) aims to investigate whether children's use of mobile phones and wireless technologies influences their neurocognitive/behavioural development. Methods: SCAMP aims to establish a cohort of ~7,000 secondary school pupils (11-12 years old) across London. Pupils will complete a school-based computerised assessment, which includes cognitive tasks such as the trail-making test to assess visual attention and task switching and the Catell Culture Fair test to estimate IQ, at baseline and follow-up two years later. Parents will be asked to consent linkage of their child's school assessment data with their child's mobile traffic, health and educational data. Parents and children will also be invited to complete optional online questionnaires at home. A bio-clinic collecting urine and saliva samples to provide additional information about potential confounders such as puberty will be piloted. In year two of the study, an exposure validation study will be carried out in a subset of the cohort. Results: Preliminary analyses of 597 children (80% female, 20% male; 40% Asian, 30% White and 12% Black) show that over half of participants (61%) own a mobile phone and of these, 81% own a smartphone. On weekdays, 23% of participants make or receive calls approximately once a day and 27% spend 1-5 minutes per day talking on their mobile phones. Approximately 19% of participants use their mobile phones to connect to the internet via Wi-Fi while 18% connect via mobile phone network. Conclusions: SCAMP will improve our understanding of children's RF exposures and provide an evidence base to inform policy.