Assessment of Type of Allergy and Antihistamine Use in the Development of Glioma
- Bridget J. McCarthy1,2,
- Kristin Rankin1,
- Dora Il'yasova3,4,
- Serap Erdal5,
- Nicholas Vick6,
- Francis Ali-Osman4,7,
- Darell D. Bigner4,8 and
- Faith Davis1,2
- Authors' Affiliations: 1Divisions of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and 2University of Illinois at Chicago Cancer Center, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; 3Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center and 4Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina; 5Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Science, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; 6Evanston Kellogg Cancer Care Center, NorthShore University HealthSystem, Evanston, Illinois; and Departments of 7Surgery, and 8Pathology and Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation Institute at Duke, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina
- Corresponding Author:
Bridget J. McCarthy, Department of Epidemiology/Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1603 W. Taylor St. (M/C 923), Chicago, IL 60612. Phone: (312) 996-0314; Fax: (312) 413-2025. E-mail: bjm3{at}uic.edu
Abstract
Background: Allergies have been associated with decreased risk of glioma; but, associations between duration and timing of allergies, and antihistamine use and glioma risk have been less consistent. The objective was to investigate this association by analyzing types, number, years since diagnosis, and age at diagnosis of allergies, and information on antihistamine usage, including type, duration, and frequency of exposure.
Methods: Self-report data on medically diagnosed allergies and antihistamine use were obtained for 419 glioma cases and 612 hospital-based controls from Duke University and NorthShore University HealthSystem.
Results: High- and low-grade glioma cases were statistically significantly less likely to report any allergy than controls (OR = 0.66, 95% CI: 0.49–0.87 and OR = 0.44, 95% CI: 0.25–0.76, respectively). The number of types of allergies (seasonal, medication, pet, food, and other) was inversely associated with glioma risk in a dose–response manner (P value for trend < 0.05). Age at diagnosis and years since diagnosis of allergies were not associated with glioma risk. Oral antihistamine use was statistically significantly inversely associated with glioma risk, but when stratified by allergy status, remained significant only for those with high-grade glioma and no medically diagnosed allergy.
Conclusions: All types of allergies appear to be protective with reduced risk for those with more types of allergies. Antihistamine use, other than in relationship with allergy status, may not influence glioma risk.
Impact: A comprehensive study of allergies and antihistamine use using standardized questions and biological markers will be essential to further delineate the biological mechanism that may be involved in brain tumor development. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 20(2); 370–8. ©2011 AACR.
- Received September 18, 2010.
- Revision received December 10, 2010.
- Accepted December 10, 2010.
- ©2011 American Association for Cancer Research.
