To prevent brain tumors, attention must be paid to reducing individual risk factors.
Behavioral risk factors
- Psychosocial situation
- High earnings – in men, risk increase for glioma by 14%.
- Overweight (BMI ≥ 25; obesity); higher lifetime probability of developing meningioma:
- BMI 25-29.9: 21%
- BMI ≥ 30: 54
Environmental pollution – intoxications (poisonings).
- Carcinogens
- Ionizing rays
Further
- After head and neck CT, the risk of tumors is increased for children. This is especially true for thyroid carcinomas (increased by 78%) and brain tumors (increased by 60%). The overall cancer incidence is increased by 13%.
- Cell phone use (cell phones; cordless landlines) – statistically significant risk of glioma with cell phone use > 1 year; esp. high risk was associated with exposure before age 20 years
Prevention factors (protective factors)
- Genetic factors:
- Genetic risk reduction dependent on gene polymorphisms, related to gliomas:
- Genes/SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphism):
- Gene: PARP1
- SNP: rs1136410 in gene PARP1
- Allele constellation: CT (0.80-fold).
- Allele constellation: CC (<0.80-fold)
- Genes/SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphism):
- Genetic risk reduction dependent on gene polymorphisms, related to gliomas:
- Physical activity – individuals with the highest level of physical activity have a 27% lower risk of meningioma than the most inactive group of individuals
