Study finds digital cell phones can pose risk to pacemaker patients
Analog cell phones 'safer,' researcher says
May 16, 1996
Web posted at: 6:15 p.m. EDTROCHESTER, Minnesota (CNN) -- Heart pacemakers and digital cellular phones may be a dangerous combination.
Digital cellular phones can cause heart-regulating pacemakers to slow down, shut off or even speed up the heart rate, according to a study released Thursday. It found that digital cellular phones caused interference with heart pacemakers in more than half of the 975 patients tested.
Interference occurred most often when a phone's antenna rested directly over the pacemaker, and rarely when a phone was held at the ear, according to Dr. David Hayes, a co-author of the first large-scale study on the subject.
Hayes, director of pacemaker services at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said he would "tell patients that analog phones are certainly the safest. Whatever kind of phone you're using, it's best to avoid carrying it around turned on in your breast pocket."
Analog vs. digital
The patients studied were tested with five types of digital cellular phones held at the ear and at different positions over the pacemaker. Some interference, as defined by changes in an electrocardiogram, was seen in 53.6 percent of the patients.
Analog phones, the most common type of wireless phone available in the United States, caused interference in just 3.1 percent of the tests. The results, which were similar to those of earlier investigations, were presented in Seattle, Washington, at the annual meeting of the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology.
Industry response
Problems created by the cellular phones included "temporarily inhibiting or turning off the pacemaker and causing the pacemaker to pace the heart at an inappropriately fast rate," Hayes said. Tim Ayers, a spokesman for the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, said the study contained no surprises. He said new methods to shield medical devices and cell phones are helping to lessen the problems.
Many hospitals already restrict the use of cellular phones or recommend against their use around pacemakers and other electronic medical equipment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Faulty pacemaker case may set precedent for implant patients - April 24, 1996
- Digital technology creates victims as well as clients - December 8, 1995
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