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Risk factors for cerebral glioma in adults: a case-control study in an Italian population

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Summary

A case-control study on risk factors for cerebral tumors was conducted on an adult Italian population by the four Neurosurgical Departments of the Veneto Region, i.e. Padua, Treviso, Verona and Vicenza. The study recruited 195 cases of histologically-confirmed cerebral glioma. One hospital control was selected for each case. Cases and controls were matched for age, sex, date of hospitalization and residence. Information on both cases and controls was obtained from a relative. Uninvolved interviewers administered a structured questionnaire including items on the subject's education, occupation, lifestyle, medical history, exposure to radiation for diagnosis or therapy, head trauma and blood group and the medical history of family members.

The series of cerebral tumors was first considered as an indistinct set: none of the risk factors examined showed a statistically significant association. A positive association was found with blood group A (OR = 6) when low-grade astrocytomas (n = 41) were considered separately. As for the malignant astrocytomas (n = 132), there was a suggestive but not statistically significant association with the presence of CNS tumors among first-and second-degree relatives (OR = 7.0).

On the whole, this study yielded no clear and meaningful association for the various risk factors analyzed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neurosurgical Department of Padua, Italy

    Paolo Zampieri, Angelo Padoan & Salvatore Mingrino

  2. Neurosurgical Department of Verona, Italy

    Massimo Gerosa & Claudio Licata

  3. Neurosurgical Department of Vicenza, Italy

    Leopoldo Casentini

  4. Neurosurgical Department of Treviso, Italy

    Pier Luigi Longatti

  5. Institute of Hygiene, University of Padua, Italy

    Francesco Grigoletto

  6. Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Fidia SpA, Abano Terme, Italy

    Francesca Meneghini

Authors
  1. Paolo Zampieri
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  2. Francesca Meneghini
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  3. Francesco Grigoletto
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  4. Massimo Gerosa
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  5. Claudio Licata
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  6. Leopoldo Casentini
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  7. Pier Luigi Longatti
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  8. Angelo Padoan
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  9. Salvatore Mingrino
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We are grateful to F. Coburn for her assistance with the English translation.

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Zampieri, P., Meneghini, F., Grigoletto, F. et al. Risk factors for cerebral glioma in adults: a case-control study in an Italian population. J Neuro-Oncol 19, 61–67 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01051049

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