Early Infection and Risk of Childhood Brain Tumors (Canada)

Objective: Up to 15% of human cancers can be attributed to infections. Currently there are no known associations between infective agents and childhood brain tumors. We explored childhood brain tumor risk associated with a variety of indicators of infection during gestation and childhood.

Methods: Two hundred and seventy-two cases of childhood brain tumor diagnosed in children less then 15 years of age in the province of Quebec between 1980 and 1999 were included in the study. An equal number of sex and age matched population based controls were recruited from family allowance or provincial health insurance files. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate the risk of developing childhood brain tumors associated with self-reported exposure to infection.

Results: Childhood brain tumor risk was weakly to moderately elevated after maternal reported exposure to several indicators of infection: use of antibiotics during gestation (OR = 1.7, 95% CI = 0.8-3.6) or childhood (OR = 1.4, 95% CI = 0.7-2.9), removal of tonsils, adenoids or appendix (OR = 1.2, 95% CI = 0.6-2.4), having siblings (OR = 1.4, 95% CI = 0.9-2.3), and being at least second born (OR = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.2-2.4). Moreover, childhood brain tumor risk was reduced for some subjects who were breastfed or attended daycare for more than 1 year. Risk varied by sex, age at diagnosis and tumor type.

Conclusion: Childhood brain tumor risk may be associated with exposure to infective agents.