Risk factors from brain tumors in children and adolescents: a case-control study in Belgrade, Serbia

The objective of the present study was to test the different hypotheses about factors related to the occurrence of brain tumors in children and adolescents. The case-control study of brain tumors was conducted in Belgrade (Serbia) from 1998 through 2000. The study group consisted of 60 newly diagnosed brain tumor patients and the same number of hospital controls. In the analysis conditional univariate and multivariate logistic regression were applied. According to the final model of multivariate analysis the following factors were significantly related to brain tumors: schooling of father <14 years (OR = 11.05, 95% CI 2.41-50.63, P = 0.002), mothers - housewives or workers versus clerks (OR = 2.62, 95% CI 1.06-6.57, P = 0.036), number of brothers and sisters greater than one (OR = 3.02, 95% CI 1.50-7.22, P = 0.001), and more frequent presence of malignant diseases, including brain tumors, in family history (OR = 3.54, 95% CI 1.30-9.60, P = 0.001). This case-control study was made to investigate different factors of possible importance for brain tumors in children and adolescents. Lower family social status, and more frequent occurrence of malignant tumors amongst relatives seem to be the factors that contribute the most to the higher risk of brain tumors.