Incidence and risk factors for childhood brain tumors in the ILE DE France

Abstract

A case-control study investigating risk factors for childhood brain tumors was conducted in the Ile de France (Paris region). During a 2-year period (1985-1987) 109 newly diagnosed cases were identified and, of these, 75 could be interviewed. In the same region, 113 population controls, frequency-matched for year of birth, were interviewed. Odds ratios adjusted for child's age and sex and for maternal age were estimated for each risk factor present in utero or during childhood by conditional logistic regression. Statistically significant associations were found for the following risk factors: farm residence, cat scratches, home treated with pesticides, passive smoking, family history of cancer, antihistamine intake. Intake of vitamin supplements during childhood was associated with a decrease in risk. This study is part of a multicentric case-control study coordinated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and its results will be compared for consistency, and pooled with those of other centers using the same protocol.

Birth characteristics and childhood malignant central nervous sytem tumors: The ESCALE study (French Society for Childhood Cancer)

“…As was the case in this study, the previous studies did not evidence any association between birth order and childhood CNS tumour [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. The association between embryonal tumours and second born children observed in the present study was isolated, with no linear trend with increasing birth order, and would appear to have no particular biological plausibility.…”

Childhood cancer and paternal employment in agriculture: the role of pesticides

“…Schwartzbaum et al, (1991) reported no association between parental use of pesticides in the garden between birth and diagnosis of Wilms' tumour (OR = 0.7, P = 0.30), whereas Olshan et al (1993) found a significant association between this tumour and household extermination of insects or pests in the 3 years before diagnosis (OR = 2.2, 95% CI = 1.2-3.8). Other studies have suggested that living on a farm during childhood or exposure to pesticides within the home environment may be associated with childhood bone cancer, brain cancer and leukaemia (Gold et al, 1979;Lowengart et al, 1987;Schwartzbaum et al, 1991;Buckley et al, 1994;Cordier et al, 1994;Leiss and Savitz, 1995;Meinert et al, 1996) and environmental pollution with pesticides has been suggested as a possible cause of childhood leukaemia in The Netherlands (Mulder et al, 1994).…”

Parental Cigarette Smoking, Hard Liquor Consumption and the Risk of Childhood Brain Tumors-A Case Study in Northeast China

“…Non-signi cant elevations in risk for CBTs have been reported in association with fathers' smoking (17,18) and mothers' smoking during pregnancy (2,7). A signi cantly elevated risk and dose-response relationship for CBTs has been found among children of non-smoking mothers exposed to passive smoking during pregnancy (2).…”

“…Although risk of CBTs has been reported to increase with maternal exposure to passive smoking during pregnancy (1,2), many studies have found no effect of parental smoking on the development of CBTs (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11). The potential relationship between parents' alcohol consumption and CBTs has been less well studied: a positive association between beer drinking and CBTs has been noted (10,12), while other studies have been negative (1,13).…”