Thousands of traumatic brain injuries in US linked to cell phone use, researchers say
Cell phone use has been connected to an estimated 76,000 head and neck injuries in the United States, according to new research. Of those injuries, about 13,000 were classified as “internal organ injuries,” which were mostly traumatic brain injuries, according to the study published this month.
More than 40,000 of the total injuries were in people under 30 years old and more than half of the injuries recorded in emergency room visits were cuts, scrapes and bruises.
Researchers looked at data from a Consumer Product Safety Commission database from 1998 through 2017. “During this 20-year period, the incidence of cell phone-related injuries in the United States increased steadily, with a sharp increase occurring in 2007,” the researchers wrote in the journal JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery.
The study relied on data reported by emergency rooms, but did not include people who went to urgent care offices or other doctors.
Most of the traumatic brain injuries were not serious and did not require the patients to be admitted to the hospital, the researchers said. The data showed another estimated 2,500 concussions related to cell phone use.
Head and neck injuries related to cell phone use spiked with the introduction of the Apple iPhone in 2007, the researchers said, and the numbers have been growing ever since, the study said.
“Cell phone–related injuries to the head and neck have increased steeply over the recent 20-year period, with many cases resulting from distraction,” the study from the researchers at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School said.
“Many of these injuries occurred among those aged 13 to 29 years and were associated with common activities, such as texting while walking.”
The researchers found that more than 14,000 of those cases were because people were distracted by their phones.
“Of those 14,150 cases, 7,240 occurred while the individual was driving and using a cell phone, 1,022 while texting, and 5,080 while walking and using a smartphone,” according to the study.
Of those who ended up in the ER after walking and using their smartphone, an estimated 90 people got hurt while playing the game Pokemon Go, according to the study.
