Effect of Radiofrequency Radiation Emitted by a Mobile Phone on Human Cardiovascular System

Abstract

The mobile phone is now become part and parcel of everyday life. Mobile phone (MP) is a low powered, single channel, two ways radio. It emits radio frequencies (RF) radiation to transmit information to the base station. RF radiation can cause harmful effects on physiological systems on the human body. The present study was aimed to study the effects of radio frequency (RF) emitted from mobile phones on cardiovascular system of human body. The study was conducted on 10 young university male students having age range of 21- 23years. The heart rate, blood pressure and ECG wave characteristic were recorded by the BIOPAC lab system in sitting posture during ringing period of mobile phone (RF radiation- 900MHz) by placing mobile phone at three different positions, viz, mobile in shirt pocket, mobile in trouser pocket and mobile in the hand. The heart rate was found to have a significant difference (p<0.001) between control condition and during the ringing of the mobile phone placed at shirt pocket. It was found that the systolic blood pressure was significantly higher (p<0.05) during ringing of mobile phone than that of controlled condition; the significant difference was noted only when phone was placed in the trousers pocket. However, no significant difference was observed in diastolic pressure between ringing and noringing conditions of the mobile phone. From the ECG analysis it was noted that all the parameters of ECG, e.g., P-wave, QRS complex, T-wave, PR interval and RR interval, showed no significant change due to ringing of mobile phone. It was concluded that the RF emitted from mobile phone had some effects on cardiovascular system.