Mobile Phone Use and Risk of Adverse Health Impacts among Medical Students in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Background: Internationally, there is growing concern about the adverse health effects of mobile phone use by young people.

Aim: To determine the pattern of mobile phone use among medical students and determine the potential association between degree of use and self-reported health impacts.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on 472 medical students in King Abdulaziz University. Self-administered specially designed questionnaire was used to collect data regarding the following: Socio-demographic characteristics, pattern of phone use and self-reported health complaints.

Results: The students’ median duration of mobile phone use was 330 min/day and was significantly higher in females (P= 0.04). A positive significant correlation was observed between the health complaints score and the average daily duration of use (r =0.139, P=0.002). Adjusted multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that heavy mobile use was significantly associated with self-reported sleep disturbances, headache (AOR=4.76), fatigue (AOR=4.67), depression (AOR=2.63), nervousness (AOR=1.64), musculoskeletal pain (AOR=2.14) and visual problems (AOR=2.40).

Conclusion: mobile phone use occupies a significant part in the daily life of medical students. The heavy use of mobile phone in calling and non-calling activities was associated with a high level of subjective health complaints with dose dependent pattern. After controlling for other important predictors, heavy mobile use was associated with sleep disturbances, headache, depression, nervousness, eye and musculoskeletal problems. Excessive use of mobile phones should be avoided and social awareness increased through health education activities. In addition, employing a speaker-phone device for longer daily use and recommended parental procedures are taken to prevent young people being woken by their mobile phones.