"In fully adjusted Cox models, call duration greater than 6 h/week was associated with CAD (HR 1.18, 95% CI 1.10-1.27) and stroke (HR 1.17, 95% CI 1.05-1.29) but not HF or MI."
"Follow-up ran from baseline assessment until the first occurrence of the outcome, death, loss to follow-up, or the country-specific administrative censoring date (28 February 2018 for Wales and 31 March 2021 for Scotland and England) [36]."
"Longer weekly mobile phone call duration was prospectively associated with CAD and stroke in UK Biobank."
"The MR findings provide exploratory, but not conclusive, support for an MDD-related pathway."
Exposure
"At baseline, participants reported the average time per week spent making or receiving calls on a mobile phone during the previous 3 months."
"Response categories were βless than 5 minβ, β5β29 minβ, β30β59 minβ, β1β3 hβ, β4β6 hβ, and βmore than 6 hβ."
"Phone call duration was self-reported once at baseline and may not represent later use or other dimensions of digital behavior."
Location
π Hong Kong, China
Glossary
Mendelian randomization: A method that uses gene variants people are born with to test cause and effect. In this study: some people carry variants linked to spending more time on phone calls. Because genes are fixed at conception, comparing heart outcomes between carriers and non-carriers hints at whether call time itself contributes, rather than other habits of people who call a lot, such as smoking or inactivity. The weak point is that the same variants may affect health through other routes, so the result depends on that assumption.
Mobile Phone Call Duration and Cardiovascular Outcomes: Prospective and Genetic Evidence on a Potential Depression-Related Pathway.
Yin Y, Luo Y, Liu T, Zhang Q (2026) Bioengineering Journal Level 1β
