TUESDAY, July 20 (HealthDay News) -- Individuals who have used a mobile phone for at least four years appear to be at increased risk for tinnitus, according to research published online June 23 in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Hans-Peter Hutter, M.D., of the Medical University of Vienna in Austria, and colleagues conducted a study of 100 patients presenting for complaints of tinnitus, and 100 age- and sex-matched controls. Mobile phone use was assessed based on the Interphone Study protocol.

Use of a mobile phone on the same side as the tinnitus -- up to the onset of tinnitus -- was not associated with significantly increased odds for regular use and intensity or cumulative hours of use. However, the researchers found a significantly elevated risk of tinnitus (odds ratio, 1.95) with prolonged use of a mobile phone (at least four years).

"Our results indicate that high intensity and long duration of mobile phone use might be associated with tinnitus. This possibility should be explored further by assessing mobile phone usage history in studies of tinnitus etiology in the future," the authors write.

Abstract
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