A Case-Referent Study of Brain Tumors in Adults

April 4, 2018 updated by: National Cancer Institute (NCI)

The etiology of brain tumors is poorly understood. Due, in part, to public concern about a postulated relationship between the use of cellular telephones or other increasingly prevalent environmental exposures and the incidence of brain cancer in adults, the National Cancer Institute is collaborating with three U.S. hospitals in a comprehensive case-control study of malignant and benign brain tumors. Factors under consideration include use of cellular phones and other wireless communication devices, workplace exposures to chemical agents and electromagnetic fields, dietary factors, family history of tumors, genetic determinants of susceptibility, home appliance use, reproductive history and hormonal exposures, viruses, medical and dental exposure to ionizing radiation, and other aspects of medical history.

Approximately 800 newly diagnosed brain tumor cases and 800 controls have been enrolled at hospitals in Boston, Phoenix and Pittsburgh. Cases include all adults (age greater than or equal to 18 years) newly diagnosed with a histologically confirmed intracranial glioma, intracranial meningioma or acoustic neuroma. Controls are patients admitted to the same hospitals as the cases, and treated for any of a variety of non-malignant conditions. Participating cases and controls were interviewed in the hospital by a research nurse and asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire and donate a sample of blood. Key features of the study include its large size, the emphasis on rapid ascertainment of incident cases and interview of study subjects rather than surrogate respondents, the use of detailed, job-specific questions developed by industrial hygienists to ascertain occupational exposures, and the storage of blood samples for future evaluation of inherited susceptibility, biomarkers of exposure and gene-environment interactions.

Implementation of the study protocol proceeded without serious problems. There have been no harmful effects on study participants. There have been no complaints from participants or breaches of confidentiality. Continuation of this research involves analysis and reporting of results. As there will be many papers, this process is expected to extend over the next several years.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Detailed Description

The etiology of brain tumors is poorly understood. Due, in part, to public concern about a postulated relationship between the use of cellular telephones or other increasingly prevalent environmental exposures and the incidence of brain cancer in adults. The National Cancer Institute is collaborating with three US hospitals in a comprehensive case-control study of malignant and benign brain tumors. Factors under consideration include the use of cellular phones and other wireless communication devices, workplace exposures to chemical agents and electromagnetic fields, dietary factors, family history of tumors, genetic determinants of susceptibility, home appliance use, reproductive history and hormonal exposures, viruses, medical and dental exposures to ionizing radiation, and other aspects of medical history.

Approximately 800 newly diagnosed brain tumor cases and 800 controls have been enrolled at hospitals in Boston, Phoenix, and Pittsburgh. Cases include all adults (age age greater than or equal to 18 years) newly diagnosed with a histologically confirmed intracranial giloma, intracranial meningioma or acoustic neuroma. Controls are patients admitted to the same hospitals as the cases, and treated for any of a variety of non-malignant conditions. Participating cases and controls were interviewed in the hospital by a research nurse and asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire and donate a sample of blood. Key features of the study include its large size, the emphasis on rapid ascertainment of incident cases and interview of study subjects rather than surrogate respondents, the use of detailed, job-specific questions developed by industrial hygienists to ascertain occupational exposures and gene-environment interactions.

Implementation of the study protocol proceeded without serious problems. There have been no harmful effects on study participants. There have been no complaints from participants or breaches of confidentiality. Continuation of this research involves analysis and reporting of results. Numerous publications have resulted from the study and analyses are ongoing.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

1581

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Massachusetts
      • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02115
        • Brigham and Women's Hospital

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 90 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

  • INCLUSION CRITERIA:

Age greater than or equal to 18 years.

Subjects with malignant and benign adult brain tumors from hospitals in Boston, Phoenix and Pittsburgh.

INCLUSION CRITERIA - Controls:

Patients admitted to the same hospitals as the cases, and treated for any of a variety of non-malignant conditions.

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

Reasons for exclusion of cases included absense of histologic confirmation or ineligible diagnosis (e.g., schwannoma of facial or trigeminal nerve rather than of acoustic nerve).

EXCLUSION CRITERIA - Controls:

Controls were excluded if cancer was responsible for the hospital admission.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Brain Tumor
Time Frame: 07/15/1994
07/15/1994

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Collaborators

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH/CDC)

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

August 19, 1994

Study Completion

February 26, 2018

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 19, 2006

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 19, 2006

First Posted (Estimate)

June 21, 2006

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 5, 2018

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 4, 2018

Last Verified

February 26, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 999994036
  • OH94-C-N036

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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