Talking on the mobile for more than 30 minutes a week increases the risk of hypertension

We all like to catch up on the phone with friends and family. But experts warn that calls should be kept to a minimum to keep your blood pressure low and your heart healthy. Research suggests that talking on the mobile half an hour or more a week is associated with an increased risk of hypertension.

“What matters for heart health is the number of minutes people spend talking on a mobile phone, and more minutes means higher risk,” he says. Xianhui Qinleader of the study published in the European Heart Journal – Digital Healtha journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

The researchers examined the relationship between making and receiving phone calls using data from the UK Biobank. They included a total of 212,046 adults from 37 to 73 years without hypertension. Information on mobile phone use for making and receiving calls was collected through a self-reported touchscreen questionnaire at baseline, including years of use, hours per week, and use of a hands-free device/phone with speaker.

The study focused on the relationship between mobile phone use and new-onset hypertension after adjusting for various factorssuch as age, sex, body mass index, race, family history of hypertension, education, smoking, blood pressure, blood lipids, inflammation, blood glucose, kidney function, and use of cholesterol-lowering or glucose-lowering medications. blood.

The average age of the participants was 54 years. During a 12-year follow-up, 13,984 (7% of volunteers) developed hypertension. Those who talked on their mobile phones for 30 minutes or more per week were 12% more likely to have new-onset high blood pressure than participants who spent less than 30 minutes on phone calls. The results were similar for women and men.

Hypertension in figures

Almost three quarters of the world’s population over the age of 10 own a mobile phone. About 1.3 billion adults between the ages of 30 and 79 have hypertension. Hypertension is one of the main risk factors for myocardial infarction and stroke and one of the main causes of premature death in the world.

“Our findings suggest that talking on a mobile phone may not affect the risk of developing high blood pressure as long as weekly calling time stays below half an hour. More research is required to replicate the results, but until then it seems prudent. keep mobile phone calls to a minimum to preserve heart health,” Qin concludes.