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Description
INTRODUCTION
The incidence of early-onset (EO) (< 50 years old) colorectal cancer (CRC) has been rising rapidly in recent decades. One potential contributing factor is the increased exposure to non-ionizing radiation from well-documented habits of young adults’ carrying cellphones below the waist in the colorectal region. Intestinal epithelial cells are among the tissue cells known to be most sensitive to radiation exposure.
METHODS
A case-control study, designed to contact 50 EOCRC cases and 50 randomly selected age- and sex-matched controls, interviewed participants to ascertain lifetime cellphone carrying habits (specific locations below the waist, the average daily carrying hours and the ages at which they started and stopped carrying at a given location).
Results
After controlling for confounders, a longer duration of carrying cellphones below the waist had more than 4-fold risk of EOCRC than shorter carrying duration, adjusted odds ratio (aOR)=4.1, 95% confidence interval (CI):1.0-16.4. More strikingly, the association was much stronger for ipsilateral carrying (cellphone carrying on the same side as the EOCRC tumor location) with OR=12.1 (95% CI:1.5-97) vs. contralateral carrying (cellphone carrying on the opposite side of the tumor) with OR=1.6. The association was also stronger for rectal cancer (OR=6.4) vs. colon cancer (OR=1.9), given the closer proximity of pants’ pockets to the rectum.
DISCUSSION
A longer duration of cellphone carrying below the waist is associated with an increased risk of EOCRC. Though confirmation is needed, the finding has revealed an emerging environmental risk factor for the rapid rise in EOCRC which is readily preventable.
