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1 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, Ohio; 2 Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio; 3 National Cancer Institute, Rockville, Maryland; 4 University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota; 5 Mercy Medical Center, Des Moines, Iowa; 6 Marshfield Foundation, Marshfield, Wisconsin; and 7 Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
Requests for reprints: Elizabeth A. Whelan, Industrywide Studies Branch, Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations and Field Studies, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 4676 Columbia Parkway, R-15, Cincinnati, OH 45226. Phone: 513-841-4437; Fax: 513-841-4486. E-mail: EWhelan{at}cdc.gov
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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1.5 times greater in men than in women, whereas the incidence of meningioma is 1.5 times greater in women than in men (1). The overall objective of the current study, a case-control study of glioma in four Midwest U.S. states, was to investigate rural and farming-related exposures; a secondary objective was to explore reproductive factors, including use of exogenous hormones, in the etiology of glioma in women. Glioma is the most common primary malignant brain tumor in adults, responsible for 75% of adult malignant primary brain tumors (2), yet aside from its association with ionizing radiation (3), its etiology is poorly understood. Several studies have described the sex differences in glioma incidence. In the United States, the male excess of glioma, apparent even during childhood and adolescence, increases with age (1). McKinley et al. (4), studying glioblastoma multiforme incidence in New York State in 1970 to 1995, reported that the protection afforded by being female does not emerge until ages 10 to 14 years, coinciding roughly with the onset of menstruation; is maximal at ages 50 to 54 years, when the incidence of glioblastoma multiforme in females is 50% of that in males; and seems to diminish later in life. Preston-Martin (5) found similar sex differences in analyses of glioma incidence among Blacks, Spanish-surnamed Whites, other Whites, and Asians/other groups in Los Angeles County in 1972 to 1985. Although data on international variation in glioma incidence are not readily available, variations in total brain tumor incidence largely reflect differences in glioma, and a similar pattern of male predominance is seen throughout the world (6). Age-specific incidence patterns of glioma in men and women in Sweden are nearly identical to those observed in the United States (7). The persistence of the sex difference across ethnic groups and in international comparisons suggests that intrinsic rather than environmental factors that differ between men and women are responsible. Such factors could be related to a protective effect of female hormones or to a deleterious effect mediated by male hormones.
No prior study has comprehensively examined the relationship between reproductive factors and the risk of glioma including use of exogenous hormones, breast-feeding, menstrual cycle patterns, menopausal status, and the cumulative number of menstrual cycles over the lifetime prior to diagnosis. We evaluated the possible association between different aspects of reproductive history and primary brain glioma among women in a large case-control study conducted in four Midwest U.S. states.
| Materials and Methods |
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Data Collection
Between January 1995 and September 1998, trained staff conducted in-home interviews with participants or with proxies if the participant was deceased or incapacitated. The interview collected detailed information on demographic factors, residential history, occupational history, lifestyle factors, family history, and menstrual/reproductive history. Information was collected on potential risk factors through January 1993. This date was used as a cutoff date because more recent exposures may not be as relevant to etiology and the date represented the beginning of a new presidential term, a life event that respondents likely would recall. Menstrual and reproductive events included age at first menstrual period, age at last menstrual period, reason why periods stopped, periodicity of menstrual cycles (nearly always regular, generally regular, or irregular), history of infertility, number of pregnancies and outcome of each, and length of time each child was breast-fed. Information about the use of exogenous hormones, the reason(s) for use, the starting date, and total duration of use was also obtained. Twins or triplets (1% of all pregnancies) were counted as single births. Age at last birth was analyzed among all births as well as among women with two or more births.
A woman was considered postmenopausal if she reported natural menopause or hysterectomy with a bilateral oophorectomy before 1993. Women who reported hysterectomy without bilateral oophorectomy and who were ages >55 years in 1993 were also considered to be postmenopausal. Age 55 years was chosen because 90% of the study population had reached natural menopause by this age. Women who could not recall their exact age at menarche or menopause were asked to select an age range as an alternative. For these women, the midpoint of the age range was used as the estimated age for the event. This estimation method was used for age at menarche in 76 participants (9.7%) and for age at menopause in 61 participants (12.2 %).
A variable for lifetime menstrual activity, "menstruation months," was created as a crude estimate of cumulative exposure to endogenous female hormones. This variable was calculated as the total number of months between the age at first menstrual period and the age at last menstrual period (or age in 1993 if premenopausal), subtracting 9 months for each live birth, the total number of months of breast-feeding, and the total number of months of oral contraceptive use. If any of the component variables was missing, then menstruation months were considered missing for that individual.
Statistical Analysis
Estimates of association between reproductive factors and glioma were made using unconditional logistic regression models, which generated odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Natural cut points rather than percentiles were used to form categories. A variable was considered a confounder if removal of the variable from the model resulted in a change in the ß estimate for the variable of interest of >15%. All estimates were adjusted for a quadratic effect of age in 1993. Statistical analyses were conducted using SAS software version 8.0 (8). All results were conducted both including and excluding proxy respondents. All statistical tests were two sided.
| Results |
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0.0005). Cases were more likely than controls to have a first-degree relative with brain cancer (P = 0.003) when proxy respondents were included. Controls were more likely than cases to be postmenopausal as of 1993 (P = 0.06, including proxies). Other characteristics such as body mass index, race, education, and marital status were similar between cases and controls. In multivariate analyses, only age and menopausal status were determined to be important confounding variables.
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55 years) as a marker of presumed menopausal status, the results were similar but the interaction term was no longer statistically significant (P = 0.20).
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There was little association between the use of oral contraceptives and glioma risk (Table 3). Cases were less likely than controls to report using hormones for symptoms of menopause (including proxies, OR, 0.7; 95% CI, 0.5-1.1). In the analysis excluding proxy respondents, cases were
30% less likely than controls to report using hormone replacement for menopausal symptoms for >5 years (OR, 0.7; 95% CI, 0.3-1.7).
To examine potential differences in etiology by histologic tumor type, we reanalyzed the data using each of the four major histology types (glioma, astrocytoma, glioblastoma, and oligodendroglioma) as the case group compared with all controls. Overall, the pattern of results was the same (data not shown).
| Discussion |
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50 years). Age at first birth was unrelated to risk. In a case-control study of glioma in Australia, parity seemed to be protective when proxy interviews were excluded (OR, 0.7; 95% CI, 0.3-1.5) but not when they were included (OR, 1.1; 95% CI, 0.6-2.1; ref. 14). Overall, we found some suggestion for a role for reproductive factors in the development of brain cancer. Inverse associations were found with age at menarche (among postmenopausal women), menstruation months, and fewer months of breast-feedinga pattern of associations that may be seen as the reverse of that observed for breast cancer (15). The use of hormone replacement therapy, which has been found to increase the risk of breast cancer (16), was associated with a decreased risk for glioma in our study. On the other hand, we saw little evidence for an association with parity or age at first birth, two established risk factors for breast cancer. The patterns we observed are consistent with a protective effect of female reproductive hormones on risk of glioma as suggested by the differences in sex-specific incidence rates.
The association with age at menarche differed between premenopausal and postmenopausal women and the proportion of premenopausal women among cases was higher than the proportion of premenopausal women among controls. The difference in menopausal status between cases and controls is primarily explained by their differing age distributions, because cases were more likely than controls to reach natural menopause at age >50 years. Unlike breast cancer, it has not been previously apparent that risk factors for brain cancer may differ for premenopausal and postmenopausal cases. Only one prior study (7) made an attempt to examine differences in glioma risk by menopausal status, finding a protective effect of parity only among women of premenopausal age (
50 years). We found that increasing age at menarche was associated with glioma only among postmenopausal women. For breast cancer, it has been difficult to clearly elucidate the potential biological mechanism that underlies the patterns in risk observed by menopausal status. For brain cancer, it is even more difficult to speculate on the underlying biology that may explain these patterns.
Our finding that cases were more likely than controls to report breast-feeding for a long period of time was unexpected. However, as has been pointed out by other authors, it is difficult to disentangle the effects of a specific reproductive risk factor, such as breast-feeding, from the effects of other aspects of childbearing. For example, women breast-feed only after bearing a child, and the earlier they begin childbearing, the more children they have and the longer their duration of breast-feeding (17). The fact that the association with breast-feeding has been so difficult to discern for breast cancer despite extensive study (17, 18) emphasizes the importance of caution in interpreting the results of a single study showing this association for brain cancer.
If the association between duration of breast-feeding and risk of brain cancer is confirmed in subsequent studies, hypothesized mechanisms may be similar to those advanced for the protective effect of breast-feeding on breast cancer risk, including the hypothesis that lactation causes long-term endogenous hormonal changes, possibly reduced estrogen and increased prolactin production decreasing a woman's cumulative exposure to estrogen, or the role of breast-feeding in delaying the reestablishment of ovulation (18-21). In considering the possible mechanism for a more specific association between brain cancer and breast-feeding, a direct role for oxytocin and/or prolactin might also be considered. Prolactin has been shown to cross the blood-brain barrier, and levels of prolactin in the cerebrospinal fluid are reported to parallel serum levels (22). In addition to its role in regulating mammary gland growth and lactation, prolactin is reported to stimulate cell growth in astrocytes (23).
Strengths of our study include the large number of histologically confirmed primary gliomas and the use of population-based controls. Exclusion of other brain malignancies, such as meningiomas, which are more common in women and have a suspected hormonal etiology, eliminated the variability associated with studying multiple cancer types. However, our study also had several limitations. Because controls were selected based on the age distribution of gliomas in the 3 years preceding the study, controls were, on average, older than the cases, necessitating age adjustment in all analyses. The age difference also meant that cases were less likely to have reached menopause by the end of the study period, necessitating adjustment for menopausal status as well in the analysis of reproductive risk factors. Missing information on age at menopause and age at menarche reduced the number of women (by n = 69) for whom the menstruation months variable could be calculated. Another limitation of the study is the collection of data for over 40% of the cases from proxy respondents. However, with the exception of the results for the variable menstruation months, the overall pattern of associations was the same for the models including and excluding proxy respondents. Although women were asked to recall pregnancy-related events that occurred decades earlier, studies have shown that most events, including breast-feeding duration, are accurately recalled (24).
In conclusion, this study provides suggestive evidence that hormones related to female reproductive function may be associated with brain cancer risk and highlights the importance of considering female reproductive history in studies of the etiology of brain cancer.
| Acknowledgments |
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| Footnotes |
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The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
8 A.M. Ruder et al. The Upper Midwest Health Study: a case-control study of primary intracranial brain gliomas among rural residents. Farm residence and glioma, submitted for publication. ![]()
Received 2/ 3/04; revised 5/ 4/04; accepted 5/11/04.
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