ORIGINAL PAPER
Effect of stress and intesity of mobile phone using on the health and subjective symptoms in GSM workers
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1
Instytut Medycyny Pracy im. prof. J. Nofera / Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Łódź, Poland (Zakład Fizjologii Pracy i Ergonomii / Department of Work Physiology and Ergonomics)
2
Uniwersytet Łódzki / University of Lodz, Łódź, Poland
(Zakład Metodologii Badań Psychologicznych i Statystyki / Department of Psychological Research Methodology and Statistics)
Online publication date: 2017-07-12
Corresponding author
Alicja Bortkiewicz
Instytut Medycyny Pracy im. prof. J. Nofera, Zakład Fizjologii Pracy i Ergonomii, ul. św. Teresy 8, 91-348 Łódź
Med Pr Work Health Saf. 2017;68(5):617-28
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ABSTRACT
Background: There are no available data on the health consequences that may result from the synergistic effects of electromagnetic
fields (EMF) and stress. Understanding the mechanisms of the simultaneous exposure will make it possible to develop
procedures to minimize adverse health effects in professionals using mobile phones. Material and Methods: A questionnaire
survey was conducted in 600 randomly selected people to obtain data on their health status and the prevalence of subjective
symptoms related to the mobile phones using. Among them, there were 208 GSM Network employees, to whom the Perceived
Stress Scale and Assessment of Stress at Work Questionnaire were sent. Eighty-nine completed questionnaires were returned
(response rate – 42.8%). Results: The mean age of respondents was 30.3 years (standard deviation (SD) = 7.7), time of occupational
use of mobile phone – 4.1 years (SD = 1.7), the level of occupational stress – 95.3 (SD = 19.1). A significant percentage of
people (62.8%) complained of the frequent difficulties in coping with problems of everyday life, and 57.4% had a fairly frequent
problems with managing their own affairs. Significant differences in the life stress were detected between groups with different
time of phone use (p = 0.03), and in occupational stress level, significant differences were noted between the 2 groups differing
in the length of the conversation (p = 0.05). The risk of headache, associated (odds ratio (OR) = 4.2, p = 0.008) or not associated
(OR = 2.97, p = 0.04) with calls on mobile phone, adjusted for stress, was significantly higher in people speaking via mobile
more than 60 min/day than in those talking less. Conclusions: The study indicates that both stressors acting at the same time (EMF from cell phone and stress) adversely affect the well-being of workers and increase the risk of subjective symptoms.
Med Pr 2017;68(5):617–628