title: A pooled multisite analysis of the effects of atopic medical conditions in glioma risk in different ethnic groups.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The incidences of atopic conditions (allergies, asthma, or eczema) and glioma vary by ethnicity. Atopic conditions are inversely associated with gliomas. We conducted a pooled multisite study investigating the associations of atopic conditions with glioma in different race/ethnicity groups.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using glioma cases and healthy controls, unconditional logistic regression was conducted to assess the associations of atopic conditions with glioma separately in white, black, Asian, and Hispanic subpopulations. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Glioblastoma multiforme cases were less likely than controls to report a history of atopic conditions in whites (OR = 0.46, [95% CI, 0.38-0.54]) and Asians (OR = 0.27, [95% CI, 0.10-0.73]). The same trend was seen when looking at glioma cases of all histologies. An inverse association was not seen in blacks for glioblastoma multiforme or all histologies combined.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The inverse association between glioma and atopic conditions may vary by ethnicity due to a difference in the biology of atopic conditions in different ethnicities but may be due to chance because of the limitations of small nonwhite sample sizes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, Old Westbury. Electronic address: bkrishna@nyit.edu.
authors.forename: Bhuma
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Krishnamachari
authors.affiliation: Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC.
authors.forename: Dora
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Il'yasova
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX.
authors.forename: Michael E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Scheurer
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX.
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bondy
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX.
authors.forename: Renke
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, CA.
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wrensch
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL.
authors.forename: Faith
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Davis
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005909:Glioblastoma / Q000209:etiology; D005910:Glioma / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D044469:Racial Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Allergies; Atopic conditions; Glioma