Academics have heavily criticised a research paper which claims that a rise in the number of brain tumours across all age groups in the UK over the last 20 years could be down to the increased use of smartphones.

The report, published in the Journal of Environmental and Public Health, uses official UK data for England covering 79,241 malignant brain tumours between 1995 and 2015. It shows that cases of an aggressive and usually fatal type of brain tumour known as Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM), found in the frontal and temporal part of the brain, more than doubled over this period.

The authors highlight lifestyle factors including excessive mobile phone use, as a possible causal factor in the “alarming” trend. “The rise… cannot be fully accounted for by improved diagnosis as it affects specific areas of the brain and just one type of brain tumour which is generally fatal,” they conclude. “We suggest that widespread environmental or lifestyle factors may be responsible.” Alasdair Philips, the lead author of the study and trustee of Children with Cancer UK, said: “We found a sustained and highly significant increase in GBM throughout the 21 years and across all ages. Interestingly, we found the highest rise in incidence in frontal and temporal regions of the brain. This raises the suspicion that mobile and cordless phone use may be promoting gliomas.”

However, the paper has been rubbished by several senior British academics.

Andrew Sharrocks, professor of molecular biology at the University of Manchester, said: “This study does not investigate or uncover any causes for this [rise] and merely speculates at possible causes such as radiation emitted from mobile phones… There is zero evidence of a link between mobile phones and brain tumours.” Paul Pharoah, professor of cancer epidemiology at the University of Cambridge, said the quality of the peer review process in the some journals by the publisher, Hindawi, has been questioned in the past.

“If, as the press release says, this is a groundbreaking study it would have been published in a more respectable journal,” he said. “[And] while the press release describes the authors as ‘leading academic researchers’, none has a current active academic appointment. “It is well recognised that brain cancer has been on the increase since nationwide cancer registration was implemented in 1971. The authors have presented nothing very new here. “The authors suggest several possible risk factors that may account for this increase. However, they do not present any new data to support these hypothetical associations. The statement in the press release that this study “points to life style factors including excessive mobile phone use as a likely cause” is highly misleading as this does study not point to any specific cause as being more likely than others.”

Professor Denis Henshaw, co-author of the study and scientific director of Children with Cancer UK: says: “Our findings illustrate the need to look more carefully at — and to try and explain the mechanisms behind these cancer trends, instead of brushing the causal factors under the carpet and focusing only on cures.” However, Children with Cancer UK sought to distance itself from the paper on Thursday. Cliff O’Gorman, chief executive of the charity, said: “This study was published independently and was not funded by Children with Cancer UK. However, any rise in the number of children being diagnosed with cancer is deeply worrying – particularly for brain tumours which have a very poor prognosis. Brain tumours kill more children in the UK than any other cancer. It’s essential we fund more research to make kinder and safer treatments for young patients and understand why there is an increase in incidence rates .”