TY - JOUR T1 - A meta-analysis for neurobehavioural effects due to electromagnetic field exposure emitted by GSM mobile phones JF - Occupational and Environmental Medicine JO - Occup Environ Med SP - 342 LP - 346 DO - 10.1136/oem.2006.031450 VL - 65 IS - 5 AU - A Barth AU - R Winker AU - E Ponocny-Seliger AU - W Mayrhofer AU - I Ponocny AU - C Sauter AU - N Vana Y1 - 2008/05/01 UR - http://oem.bmj.com/content/65/5/342.abstract N2 - Background and objective: Numerous studies have investigated the potential effects of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) emitted by GSM mobile phones (∼900 MHz to ∼1800 MHz) on cognitive functioning, but results have been equivocal. In order to try and clarify this issue, the current study carried out a meta-analysis on 19 experimental studies.Design: Meta-analysis.Methods: Nineteen studies were taken into consideration. Ten of them were included in the meta-analysis as they fulfilled several minimum requirements; for example, single-blind or double-blind experimental study design and documentation of means and standard deviation of the dependent variables. The meta-analysis compared exposed with non-exposed subjects assuming that there is a common population effect so that one single effect size could be calculated. When homogeneity for single effect sizes was not given, an own population effect for each study and a distribution of population effects was assumed.Results: Attention measured by the subtraction task seems to be affected in regard to decreased reaction time. Working memory measured by the N-back test seems to be affected too: under condition 0-back target response time is lower under exposure, while under condition 2-back target response time increases. The number of errors under condition 2-back non-targets appears to be higher under exposure.Conclusion: Results of the meta-analysis suggest that EMFs may have a small impact on human attention and working memory. ER -