The Nightingale Study is a large occupational prospective cohort study that started enrollment in the Netherlands in October 2011. On this website you will find more information on the purpose, design and recruitment, and organization of the Nightingale Study as well as publications and opportunities for collaboration.

• prof. dr. ir. R.C.H. (Roel) Vermeulen
• dr. J.J. (Jelle) Vlaanderen

In the last few years the use of new communication technologies, like mobile phones and wireless internet, has rapidly increased. As these devices make use of Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields (RF-EMF), human exposure to RF has also increased. There is extensive public and scientific interest in the possibility that RF exposure might increase the risk of disease, as this has yet to be determined.

This international cohort study on mobile phone use and health (COSMOS) is a long term project to investigate possible health effects associated with long term mobile phone use. COSMOS is an international consortium of five European countries (UK, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and the Netherlands) which together will characterize the mobile phone use (through operator traffic records and a self-reported questionnaire) and follow the health of at least 200,000 mobile phone users (over 18 years of age) for 20 to 30 years. Health outcomes to be studied include risk of cancers, benign tumors, neurological and cerebro-vascular diseases, as well as changes in occurrence of specific symptoms over time, such as headache and sleep disorders.

Each of the participating countries launched their own prospective cohort study on mobile phone and EMF related health risks. The COSMOS consortium is there to ensure that all these participating studies use similar protocols to enable pooling of data in the future. Combining data is necessary to address the possible associations between RF exposure and relatively rare diseases such as cancer of the brain.

• prof. dr. ir. R.C.H. (Roel) Vermeulen