COhort Study of MObile phone uSe and health United Kingdom (COSMOS UK)
The aim of COSMOS is to carry out long-term health monitoring of a large group of people to identify if there are any possible health issues linked to using mobile phones and other wireless technologies over a long period of time. COSMOS UK is a part of the broader COSMOS study, which is being undertaken in six European countries: Denmark, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, France and the UK. Around 105,000 participants aged 18 years and older were recruited in the UK from 2009 to 2012 and completed a baseline questionnaire. Participants have completed follow-up questionnaires in 2016 and 2021, and are being followed up through linked data annually (including mobile phone and healthcare data). There are plans to follow the COSMOS cohort for up to 25 years or longer.
Study design
Cohort
Number of participants at first data collection
105,028 (participants)
Age at first data collection
≥ 18 years (participants)
Participant year of birth
Varied (participants)
Participant sex
All
Representative sample at baseline?
No
Sample features
Countries
Year of first data collection
2009
Primary Institutions
Imperial College London (Imperial, ICL)
Profile paper DOI
Funders
Department of Health now known as Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
Mobile Telecommunications & Health Research Programme (MTHR)
Ongoing?
Yes
Data types collected
- Passive electronic data collection (e.g. screen time, scroll speed)
- Secondary data
- Self-report questionnaire – online
- None
- None
- Healthcare data
- Medical birth registry
- Mortality data
- Social care data
- Social media & technology use data
Engagement
Keywords
Consortia and dataset groups
