Using a mobile phone does not raise your chances of getting the most common form of brain tumour, according to the most exhaustive study to date.

The British study found no link between glioma brain tumours and mobile phones, irrespective of the type of phone, how many hours a week they were used, or whether they were used in rural or urban areas.

The findings significantly shift the weight of evidence against recent fears about use of mobile phones. The Health Protection Agency indicated that if further planned research confirmed the findings, it could revise guidance advising people to take "precautionary care" in use of mobiles and against under-8s using mobiles.

The study, published today in the British Medical Journal, tracked mobile phone use of 966 people with glioma and compared their usage with 1,716 healthy volunteers. The researchers from the universities of Leeds, Nottingham and Manchester and the Institute of Cancer Research in London reported there was no evidence that those who regularly used mobile phones were at greater overall risk of developing glioma.