In an age when a smartphone seems like an extra limb for most people, a new study is raising red flags about their potential impact on our heart health.

Conducted by researchers and published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, the study discloses that frequent mobile phone use could be linked to a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and strokes.

“Mobile phones emit radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs), which could induce hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis deregulation, inflammatory reaction, and oxidative stress, and therefore are expected to affect various organs, such as heart and blood vessels,” the researchers wrote.

The research involved data from more than 440,000 participants in the U.K. Biobank project. Findings indicate that individuals who use their mobile phones for an hour or more per week face a 10 percent higher risk of developing cardiovascular conditions compared to those with less frequent use.

A particularly interesting finding is that the connection is more pronounced among certain groups. For instance, current smokers and individuals with diabetes who are frequent phone users exhibited an even higher risk of developing cardiovascular issues. This suggests that mobile phone use may amplify existing risk factors for heart disease.

The study also found that regular mobile phone users had a higher carotid intima-media thickness, a measure often used as an indicator of atherosclerosis — the buildup of plaque in the arteries, which can result in heart attacks and strokes.