Birth Control and Brain Cancer

As gliomas are less common among women than men, female sex hormones have been hypothesized to protect against development of this malignancy. To explore associations between glioma incidence and use of hormonal contraception, researchers conducted a case-control study of all premenopausal Danish women with gliomas diagnosed between 2000 and 2009.

Among 317 identified cases and 2126 age-matched controls, women who developed gliomas had significantly greater odds of reporting long-term use of progestin-only pills and slightly increased odds of prior use of combination pills. Although analyses were adjusted for years of schooling and treatment for allergic conditions, which are inversely associated with glioma risk, data on tobacco use or obes…