Exploring the Possibility of Headache Exposure among Mobile Phone Users Aged (18-25) Years

Abstract

Background: Many health reports have focused on the symptoms and health effects caused by mobile phone usage around the world, including headaches. Headaches are common among the Iraqi people, and when exposed to low-frequency radiation from mobile phone use for long hours, this may cause headaches.

Objective:To determine the possibility of headache exposure among mobile phone users in relation to age, gender and various aspects of mobile and to find out any significant association between the duration of  mobile phone usage per day with  duration and intensity of headache.

Patients and Methods: An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in Baquba city during the 1st  December 2016 to 31 December 2017 to obtain a random sample of young adults aged 18 – 25 years. A questionnaire was created to collect data. This questionnaire consists of three parts, the first part  includes age and gender  and the second part about mobile-related information. While the third part is about headaches information related to headaches. Initial approval was taken from every to participating. Data, sorted and arranged, and statistical tables were used to represent the results. Statistical data were analyzed using the statistical packages for social Sciences (SPSS) program version (20). Chi-square and t- test were applied and p-value of <0.05 was taken to be as a statistical significance.

Results: The current study shows that mobile phone usage significantly increases the rate of exposure to headaches by (65%). The highest rate of exposure to headaches (86.1%) was significantly among those who owned the mobile for four years and more. The study showed that the highest rate of headaches (% 72.6) was significantly found in persons who use the mobile mainly to surf social networking and the headache rate (73.8%) was significantly higher  among those who use mobile phones for (3-˂ 4) hours per day. 

Conclusion: It has been concluded from this study that the use of mobile phones increases the  of exposure to headaches, especially when the duration of use during the day increases, as well as the duration of headache exposure of more than two hours and intensity significantly associated with increasing the mean number of hours per day.