Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Apr 18, 2024
Open Peer Review Period: Apr 18, 2024 - Jun 13, 2024
Date Accepted: Nov 27, 2024
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Long-term impact of using mobile phones and playing computer games on the risk of neurodegenerative diseases and brain structure: a large population-based study
ABSTRACT
Background:
With the increasing popularity of electronic devices, the longitudinal effects of daily prolonged electronic device usage on brain health and the aging process remain unclear.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of daily use of electronic devices on the risk of neurodegenerative diseases and brain structure.
Methods:
This longitudinal population-based cohort study analyzed the impact of mobile phone usage duration, weekly usage time, and other electronic device habits on future brain structure and the future risk of various neurodegenerative diseases, including all-cause dementia (ACD), Alzheimer's disease (AD), vascular dementia (VD), all-cause parkinsonism (ACP), and Parkinson's disease (PD).
Results:
The study included over 277,000 participants for risk analysis, with a mean baseline age of approximately 55.9 years. The average follow-up duration was approximately 13.9 years. Longer years of mobile phone usage were associated with a reduced risk of ACD, AD, and VD compared to rarely using mobile phones. Additionally, longer years of mobile phone usage were linked to a decreased risk of ACP and PD in participants aged older than 60 years. Neuroimaging analysis involved 35,643 participants, with an average duration of approximately 9.0 years between baseline and neuroimaging scans. Longer years of mobile phone usage were correlated with thicker cortex in various areas.
Conclusions:
Longer years of mobile phone usage were associated with a reduced risk of neurodegenerative diseases and improved brain structure compared to minimal usage. However, higher weekly usage time did not confer additional risk reduction compared to lower weekly usage.
Citation
Per the author's request the PDF is not available.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.