© 1995 Oxford University Press
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Maternal Exposure to N-Nitrosatable Drugs as a Risk Factor for Childhood Brain Tumours
a Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
b Department of Environmental Health, University of Washington Seattle, WA.
c Department of Biostatistics, University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA.
d Epidemiology Program, Cancer Research Center for Hawaii Honolulu, HI.
e Cancer Epidemiology Unit, California Department of Health Services Emeryville, CA.
f Northern Calfornia Cancer Registry Alameda, CA.
g Department of Epidemiology, Univeristy of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center Seattle, WA.
h Comprehensive Breast Cancer Center, Michigan State University East Lansing, MI.
i Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT.
j Department of Neuropathology, Massachusetts General Hospital Boston, MA.
k Neuropathology, Children's Hospital of Los Angeles and University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA.
l University of Nebraska Meidcal Center Omaha. NE.
m Neuroepidemiology, Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School Boston, MA.
Background. Animal models suggest that compounds containing a nitrosyl group (N-nitroso compounds (NNO)) can act as potent transplacental carcinogens. Many common drug formulations have the potential to undergo nitrosation in vivo. The association between maternal use of nitrosatable drugs during pregnancy and development of brain tumours in the offspring was examined in a SEER-based case-control study.
Methods. Maternal exposure to nitrosatable drugs during pregnancy was compared among 361 childhood brain tumour cases and 1083 matched controls recruited through random-digit dialling.
Results. There was no increase in risk observed for childhood brain tumours overall (OR = 1.15; 95% Cl : 0.69–1.94) or for astrocytomas individually (OR = 1.16; 95% Cl : 0.50–2.69). A slight elevation in risk was noted for medulloblastomas (OR = 1.47; 95% Cl : 0.28–7.62) and ‘other’ tumours (OR = 1.27; 95% Cl : 0.56–2.86), however, both estimates were based on small numbers.
Conclusions. Our findings suggest that no increased risk of childhood brain tumours was associated with maternal exposure to nitrosatable drugs. The study results should be viewed with caution given the imprecision of the point estimates as well as the lack of data on specific timing and dosage of exposure and degree of nltrosatability of drugs taken.
Received 1 October 1994
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  R. McKean-Cowdin, J. M Pogoda, W. Lijinsky, E. A Holly, B. A Mueller, and S. Preston-Martin Maternal prenatal exposure to nitrosatable drugs and childhood brain tumours Int. J. Epidemiol., April 1, 2003; 32(2): 211 - 217. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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