Abstract :
The potential health risks of the radiofrequency electromagnetic fields emitted by cellular phones are of considerable public interest. This study assessed the effect of short-term exposure to electromagnetic fields emitted by cellular phones on the ECG and HRV of young health females. A cross-sectional comparative study was carried out among first year female medical students at King Saud bin Abdulaziz university, from October 2019 to January 2020. A total of 43 young, healthy female, with a BMI of 18-25 were included. ECG and HRV were recorded before and during exposure to a cellular phone on silent mode and active call mode. Powerlab acquisition system was used for recording and LabChart and JMP software were used for analysis. Descriptive statistics were used for the participants’ demographic characteristics and the parameters of ECG and HRV. Inferential statistics (paired T-test, level of confidence =99%, p<0.05) were used to compare between the ECG and HRV parameters before and after short-term exposure to a cellular phone. 43 healthy female, aged 20 ± 1 and had BMI of 21.63±3 were enrolled. On ECG, a significant increase in the values of P duration, PR and ST height (p<0.05) was noticed. On HRV, no significant changes on any index were found (p>0.05). The effect of short-term exposure to cellular phones on the ECG and HRV components are minimal and within the physiological range. Short-term exposure to electromagnetic fields emitted by cellular phones does not result in abnormalities in the ECG or HRV parameters.
