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Hindi Research Article
A Study on Some of the Common Health Effects of Cell-Phones amongst College Students
Jayanti P Acharya*, Indranil Acharya and Divya Waghrey
Department of Community Medicine, Bhaskar Medical College, Moinabad, Hyderabad, AP, India
- Corresponding Author:
- Dr. Jayanti P Acharya
Assistant Professor in Community Medicine
Bhaskar Medical College Yenkapally
Moinabad, RR Dist, AP, India
Tel: 9848685338, 040-27111603
E-mail: gitucapricorn@gmail.com
Received Date: April 05, 2013; Accepted Date: April 05, 2013; Published Date: May 23, 2013
Citation: Acharya JP, Acharya I, Waghrey D (2013) A Study on Some of the Common Health Effects of Cell-Phones amongst College Students. J Community Med Health Educ 3:214. doi:10.4172/2161-0711.1000214
Copyright: © 2013 Acharya JP, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background: Cell phones are being used by each and every one today. Their use without any knowledge of their harmful effects is unsafe. Studies on cancers due to electromagnetic radiations from cell phones are available but there is a need to research on the harmful physical and mental effects esp. on rampant users, like college-goers. This study focused on the health effects of cell phone usage amongst students pursuing professional courses in colleges in an urban setting.
Materials and methods: College students of both sexes in the age group 17-23 years from urban and rural backgrounds were selected at random (those using cell phones). They were given self-administered, pre-tested questionnaire which included aspects related to few common adverse mental and physical health symptoms attributed to cell phone usage.
Results: Expectedly, almost all the subjects (96.1%) possessed cell phones, and used the device for a greater part of the day. Headache was found to be the commonest symptom (51.47%) followed by irritability/anger (50.79%). Other common mental symptoms included lack of concentration and poor academic performance, insomnia, anxiety etc. Among physical symptoms –body aches (32.19%), eye strain (36.51%), digital thumb (13.8%) were found to be frequent. Accidents are caused due to cell phone driving. Suggestions: Less dependence on the device, curtailing time period spent on talking, communicating more by texting, holding the device as much away from the head as possible or using headphones/loudspeaker facility, etc. were some of the take-home messages advocated to the subjects to minimize and prevent the adverse effects.
