Radiofrequency electromagnetic field emitted from mobile phone does not interfere with cardiac conduction system in patients with acute coronary syndrome

Adil H Alhusseiny

doi:10.4103/0189-7969.130043

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Year : 2014 | Volume : 11 | Issue : 1 | Page : 5-7

Radiofrequency electromagnetic field emitted from mobile phone does not interfere with cardiac conduction system in patients with acute coronary syndrome

Adil H Alhusseiny
Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, Diyala University, Diyala, Iraq

Date of Web Publication

7-Apr-2014

Correspondence Address:
Adil H Alhusseiny
Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, Diyala University, Diyala
Iraq

Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None

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DOI: 10.4103/0189-7969.130043

Abstract

Background: Regular short term use of mobile phone at domestic level did not impact upon the health of humans.
Objective: The objective of the following study is to look for the effect of radiofrequency emitted by mobile phone during turned on mode on the electrocardiogram (ECG) record in patients presented with acute coronary syndrome (ACS).
Methods: A total number of 102 patients comprise of 61 males and 41 females presented with ACS were included in this study. The patients were grouped according to the ECG record into patients with non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (Group I) and ST elevation myocardial infarction (Group II). ECG records were obtained at baseline and during exposure to the radiofrequency (900 MHz) of mobile placed at the belt level and over the precordial region.
Results: Radiofrequency of mobile phone (turn ON mode) placed at belt level significantly shortened P-R period In Group I. The other variables related to the cardiac conductive system; the QT period and the duration of QRS wave complex or to the voltage criteria did not significantly alter in both groups.
Conclusion: Regular short term use of mobile during the recovery period of ACS is safe and does not impact upon ECG record.

Keywords: Acute coronary syndrome, impulse conduction, mobile phone

How to cite this article:
Alhusseiny AH. Radiofrequency electromagnetic field emitted from mobile phone does not interfere with cardiac conduction system in patients with acute coronary syndrome. Nig J Cardiol 2014;11:5-7

How to cite this URL:
Alhusseiny AH. Radiofrequency electromagnetic field emitted from mobile phone does not interfere with cardiac conduction system in patients with acute coronary syndrome. Nig J Cardiol [serial online] 2014 [cited 2023 Apr 2];11:5-7. Available from: https://www.nigjcardiol.org/text.asp?2014/11/1/5/130043

Introduction

Exposure to the radiofrequency field of mobile does not carry any health hazard because its level is less the levels recommended by the international commission on non-ionizing radiation protection. regular long-term use of mobile phone at domestic level did not impact upon the central nervous system. ^[1],[2] Exposure to the electromagnetic field up to 50 Hz was not associated with neurodegenerative or cardiovascular diseases. ^[3] Moreover, the non-specific symptoms that reported by mobile users found to be not related to the radiofrequency of electromagnetic field ^[4] whereas short term exposure to a mobile phone caused non-specific symptoms; i.e. nocebo effect. ^[5] Several studies characterized the health hazard of exposure to mobile radiofrequency. Alhusseiny et al. ^[6] in their study have reported that patients with established myocardial ischemia were at risk of significant prolongation of QT period in electrocardiogram (ECG) record after exposure to turn-on mode of mobile. Furthermore, Alhussieny et al. ^[7] found that exposure to the radiofrequency of ringing mobile did not interfere with the effect of antiarrhythmic drugs on the cardiac conductive system in patients with established myocardial ischemia. Other studies ^[8],[9] also did not find a significant effect on heart rate variability after term exposure to the radiofrequency of electromagnetic field emitted by mobile phones. This study was aimed to investigate the effect of radiofrequency emitted by mobile phone during turned on mode on the ECG record in patients presented with acute coronary syndrome (ACS); with ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI).

Materials and Methods

This study conducted in Departments of Medicine, College of Medicine, Diyala University in Iraq. This study was approved by the Scientific Committee of the College and a verbal consent form was obtained from each patient prior to admission to the study. The study was conducted according the ethical guidelines constructed by the scientific committee of the institute in which and treatment or using device should not be harmful to the patient and the patient is free to decline from the study or to refuse for study admission.

A total number of 102 patients (61 male and 41 female) presented with ACS at coronary care unit with sinus rhythm were allocated randomly (using randomized tables) to admit in this study. The patients were grouped according to the ECG record into:

Group I (n = 60): Patients with ECG records of NSTEMI
Group II (n = 42): Patients with ECG records of STEMI.

Patients with risk or precipitating factors of ACS including essential hypertension, dyslipidemia and diabetes mellitus were included in this study. The diagnosis of ACS based on the medical history, clinical signs and symptoms, physical examination, ECG and cardiac enzymes findings. After the patients recovered from the acute phase (approximately 3-7 days) and they were clinically stabilized, they were subjected to the method of exposure to ringing mobile.

Each patient allowed to lie on the supine position and after a stabilizing period of 10 min, the ECG was done to him without application of cell phone and this ECG is considered as a baseline ECG. Then the cell phone was placed on the left side of the lower abdomen at the belt level and allowed to ring once for 40 s (ringing mode) with simultaneous recording ECG. This ECG is considered as ECG with cell phone ring at belt level. After 5 min the cell phone placed in the left side chest pocket (over the precordial region) and allowed to ring once for 40 s (ringing mode) with simultaneous ECG recording. The radiofrequency of cell phone is 900 MHz and the duration of each ring is 40 s. The following ECG variables (which are calculated electronically) are studied: Heart rate (beat/min), R-R interval (ms), P-R interval (ms), QRS period (msec.), QTm (measured) interval (ms), QTc (corrected) interval (ms), The amplitude of R wave in the lead V5 (mV), the amplitude of S wave in lead V1 (mV) and the voltage summation of R wave in V5 and S wave in V1 (mV).

Statistical analysis

The results were analyzed using Excel 2007 (Microsoft cooperation, Redmond, USA). The results are presented as mean ± standard deviation. The data were analyzed using two tailed paired Student's t-test difference between percents test taking P ≤ 0.05 as the lowest limit of significance.

Results

As you can see in [Table 1], the mean age of Group I did not significantly differ from that of Group II (64.9 ± 12.4 vs. with 59.7 ± 10.9 year). Significant high number of current smokers was observed in Group II compared with Group I, whereas significant number of patients had high blood pressures and dyslipidemia in Group I compared with Group II [Table 1]. During hospitalization heart failure and cardiac arrhythmias were reported in 13 (21.7%) and 24 (40%) patients in Group I respectively compared with 15 (35.7%) and 8 (19%) patients in Group II respectively. [Table 2] shows that the radiofrequency of cell phone (turn on mode) placed at belt level significantly interfered with conduction velocity presented with shortening P-R period. This observation was not noticed when the cell phone placed in the chest pocket over the precordial region. The other variables related to the cardiac conductive system; the QT period and the duration of QRS wave complex did not affected by the radiofrequency of the mobile phone. Furthermore, the voltage criteria did not significantly altered by the radiofrequency of mobile phone [Table 2]. There were no significant changes in the ECG records regarding the variables that related to the cardiac conductive system or to the voltage criteria in Group II patients when exposed to the electromagnetic field of mobile phone [Table 3].

Table 1: Characteristic of the study

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Table 2: Effect of mobile frequency on the ECG parameters in group I patients

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Table 3: Effect of mobile frequency on the ECG parameters in group II patients

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Discussion

The results show that the use of mobile phone at the domestic level following ACS whether NSTEMI or STEMI is safe. The significant shortening P-R period that observed in NSTEMI group does not reach to the critical level of preexisting. ^[10] There is no doubt that railway workers who exposed intermittently to low level of magnetic field (≥16 Hz) for years are more likely to have high cardiac mortality rate due to acute myocardial infarction and/or cardiac arrhythmias. ^[11] The non-significant effect of radiofrequency of mobile phone upon the diseased heart after short-term exposure is in agreement with other studies. Exposure to electromagnetic fields transmitter for a 48-h period did not show any significant impact on the reproductive system. ^[12] In healthy subjects short term exposure to radiofrequency of mobile did not show any significant effect on the heart rate. ^[8] The results of this study add further information to which the radiofrequency does not produce harmful effect on the diseased heart indicating the safety of using mobile during the recovery period of ACS. Previous study showed that the thermal effect of radiofrequency did not significantly alter the blood flow or the activity of autonomic nervous system, ^[13] which supports the findings of this study and considers the use of mobile in patients with ACS is safe. The limitations of the study were large inter-individual variation in the outcome of patients from ACS and short duration of the exposure.

Conclusions

The author concludes that the use of mobile during the recovery period of ACS is safe.

References

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