Abstract

Overview

The study investigates the reliability of self-reported mobile phone use among adolescents for accurate exposure assessment in epidemiological research, contrasting these data with mobile operator traffic data.

Findings

• Comparison between self-reported mobile phone data and actual traffic data from mobile operators amongst adolescents aged 11-12 years.
• Assessment based on call frequency, cumulative call time, and text messages using Cohen's weighted Kappa statistics.
• Highest agreement observed in the duration spent talking on mobile phones per day during weekdays (38.9%) and weekends (29.4%).
• Differential agreement noted across genders and socioeconomic groups with little variations.
• Specificity and sensitivity analysis demonstrated that the questionnaire could distinguish between high and low mobile phone users effectively, especially in call frequency during weekdays.

Conclusion

Despite discrepancies between self-reported and operator-collected data, self-reported measures are deemed sufficient for identifying different levels of mobile phone use among adolescents. The study underscores the importance of considering Wi-Fi over mobile networks in exposure assessments.