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Early life exposures and the risk of adult glioma

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Abstract

Exposure to common infections in early life may stimulate immune development and reduce the risk for developing cancer. Birth order and family size are proxies for the timing of exposure to childhood infections with several studies showing a reduced risk of glioma associated with a higher order of birth (and presumed younger age at infection). The aim of this study was to examine whether birth order, family size, and other early life exposures are associated with the risk of glioma in adults using data collected in a large clinic-based US case-control study including 889 glioma cases and 903 community controls. A structured interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect information on family structure, childhood exposures and other potential risk factors. Logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (OR) and corresponding 95 % confidence intervals (CI) for the association between early life factors and glioma risk. Persons having any siblings were at significantly lower risk for glioma when compared to those reporting no siblings (OR = 0.64; 95 % CI 0.44–0.93; p = 0.020). Compared to first-borns, individuals with older siblings had a significantly lower risk (OR = 0.75; 95 % CI 0.61–0.91; p = 0.004). Birth weight, having been breast fed in infancy, and season of birth were not associated with glioma risk. The current findings lend further support to a growing body of evidence that early exposure to childhood infections reduces the risk of glioma onset in children and adults.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge our study participants and their families. We further wish to thank the clinicians and research staffs at participating medical centers for their contributions. In addition, we acknowledge Dr. Sajeel A. Chowdhary at the Florida Hospital Cancer Institute in Orlando, FL, as well as Harold Colbassani, MD; Dean Gobo, MD; and Christopher Mickler, DO at Morton Plant Mease Healthcare and Baycare Health System in Clearwater, Fl for their efforts recruiting subjects to the study. The project was supported by the National Institutes of Health (R01CA116174) and institutional funding provided by the Moffitt Cancer Center (Tampa, FL) and the Vanderbilt-Ingram Comprehensive Cancer Center (Nashville, TN). Development of this manuscript was supported in part through a National Cancer Institute postdoctoral fellowship training grant (R25CA147832).

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cancer Epidemiology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, 12902 Magnolia Drive, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA

    Gabriella M. Anic, Melissa H. Madden, Kelly Sincich, James E. Browning & Kathleen M. Egan

  2. Department of Neurooncology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA

    Edward Pan

  3. Department of Neurological Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, 37232, USA

    Reid C. Thompson

  4. Neuro-oncology Program, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, 35294, USA

    L. Burton Nabors

  5. Department of Neurosurgery, Emory School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA

    Jeffrey J. Olson

  6. Norton Cancer Institute, Louisville, KY, 40202, USA

    Renato V. LaRocca

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  1. Gabriella M. Anic
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  2. Melissa H. Madden
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  3. Kelly Sincich
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  4. Reid C. Thompson
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  5. L. Burton Nabors
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  6. Jeffrey J. Olson
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  7. Renato V. LaRocca
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  8. James E. Browning
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  9. Edward Pan
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  10. Kathleen M. Egan
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Correspondence to Kathleen M. Egan.

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Anic, G.M., Madden, M.H., Sincich, K. et al. Early life exposures and the risk of adult glioma. Eur J Epidemiol 28, 753–758 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-013-9811-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-013-9811-1

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