Endogenous and exogenous hormone exposure and the risk of meningioma in men.
OBJECTIVE
Meningioma is a disease with considerable morbidity and is more commonly diagnosed in females than in males. Hormonally related risk factors have long been postulated to be associated with meningioma risk, but no examination of these factors has been undertaken in males.


METHODS
Subjects were male patients with intracranial meningioma (n = 456), ranging in age from 20 to 79 years, who were diagnosed among residents of the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and North Carolina, the San Francisco Bay Area, and 8 counties in Texas and matched controls (n = 452). Multivariate logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association between hormonal factors and meningioma risk in men.


RESULTS
Use of soy and tofu products was inversely associated with meningioma risk (OR 0.50 [95% CI 0.37-0.68]). Increased body mass index (BMI) appears to be associated with an approximately 2-fold increased risk of developing meningioma in men. No other single hormone-related exposure was found to be associated with meningioma risk, although the prevalence of exposure to factors such as orchiectomy and vasectomy was very low.


CONCLUSIONS
Estrogen-like exogenous exposures, such as soy and tofu, may be associated with reduced risk of meningioma in men. Endogenous estrogen-associated factors such as high BMI may increase risk. Examination of other exposures related to these factors may lead to better understanding of mechanisms and potentially to intervention.
Department of Community and Family Medicine, Cancer Prevention, Detection and Control Research Program;
Joellen M
JM
Schildkraut
Lisa
L
Calvocoressi
Frances
F
Wang
Margaret
M
Wrensch
Melissa L
ML
Bondy
Joseph L
JL
Wiemels
Elizabeth B
EB
Claus
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008577:Meningeal Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D008579:Meningioma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012306:Risk; D030262:Soybean Proteins
D030262:Soybean Proteins