Using a mobile phone during pregnancy could cause behavioural and emotional problems in children, researchers at the University of California have found.

The study of more than 13,000 children found that pregnant women using mobiles just two or three times a day was enough to raise the risk of their babies developing hyperactivity and difficulties with conduct, emotions and relationships by the time they reached school age. Specifically, mothers who used mobile phones were 54 per cent more likely to have children with behavioral problems.

The likelihood is even greater if the children themselves used the phone before the age of seven. When children use a mobile phone themselves, they were 80 per cent more likely to suffer from difficulties with behaviour. They were also 25 per cent more at risk from emotional problems, 34 per cent more likely to suffer from difficulties relating to their peers, 35 per cent more likely to be hyperactive, and 49 per cent more prone to problems with conduct.

The results of the study took the top scientists who conducted it by surprise. The research will carry particular weight because one of its authors, UCLA’s Professor Leeka Kheifets, had previously been skeptical that mobile phones could pose a risk to health.

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