Reproductive factors and exogenous hormone use in relation to risk of glioma and meningioma in a large European cohort study.
BACKGROUND
The etiologies of glioma and meningioma tumors are largely unknown. Although reproductive hormones are thought to influence the risk of these tumors, epidemiologic data are not supportive of this hypothesis; however, few cohort studies have published on this topic. We examined the relation between reproductive factors and the risk of glioma and meningioma among women in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC).


METHODS
After a mean of 8.4 years of follow-up, 193 glioma and 194 meningioma cases were identified among 276,212 women. Information on reproductive factors and hormone use was collected at baseline. Cox proportional hazard regression was used to determine hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI).


RESULTS
No associations were observed between glioma or meningioma risk and reproductive factors, including age at menarche, parity, age at first birth, menopausal status, and age at menopause. A higher risk of meningioma was observed among postmenopausal women who were current users of hormone replacement therapy (HR, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.18-2.71) compared with never users. Similarly, current users of oral contraceptives were at higher risk of meningioma than never users (HR, 3.61; 95% CI, 1.75-7.46).


CONCLUSIONS
Our results do not support a role for estrogens and glioma risk. Use of exogenous hormones, especially current use, seems to increase meningioma risk. However, these findings could be due to diagnostic bias and require confirmation.


CONCLUSIONS
Elucidating the role of hormones in brain tumor development has important implications and needs to be further examined using biological measurements.
Michaud
Dominique S
DS
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Imperial College, London, United Kingdom. Dominique_Michaud@brown.edu
Gallo
Valentina
V
Schlehofer
Brigitte
B
Tjønneland
Anne
A
Olsen
Anja
A
Overvad
Kim
K
Dahm
Christina C
CC
Kaaks
Rudolf
R
Lukanova
Annekatrin
A
Boeing
Heiner
H
Schütze
Madlen
M
Trichopoulou
Antonia
A
Bamia
Christina
C
Kyrozis
Andreas
A
Sacerdote
Carlotta
C
Agnoli
Claudia
C
Palli
Domenico
D
Tumino
Rosario
R
Mattiello
Amalia
A
Bueno-de-Mesquita
H Bas
HB
Ros
Martine M
MM
Peeters
Petra H M
PH
van Gils
Carla H
CH
Lund
Eiliv
E
Bakken
Kjersti
K
Gram
Inger T
IT
Barricarte
Aurelio
A
Navarro
Carmen
C
Dorronsoro
Miren
M
Sánchez
Maria José
MJ
Rodríguez
Laudina
L
Duell
Eric J
EJ
Hallmans
Göran
G
Melin
Beatrice S
BS
Manjer
Jonas
J
Borgquist
Signe
S
Khaw
Kay-Tee
KT
Wareham
Nick
N
Allen
Naomi E
NE
Tsilidis
Konstantinos K
KK
Romieu
Isabelle
I
Rinaldi
Sabina
S
Vineis
Paolo
P
Riboli
Elio
E
D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003276:Contraceptives, Oral / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005910:Glioma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism; D020249:Hormone Replacement Therapy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008577:Meningeal Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism; D008579:Meningioma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D017584:Reproductive History
D003276:Contraceptives, Oral
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