Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

We pursued an association between hypertension and gliomas by investigating whether antihypertensive drugs (AHD) are associated with an increased glioma risk by a population-based nested case-control study using the PHARMO database; this links dispensing records of prescription drugs to hospital discharge data on an individual basis. Pathological data were derived from the Dutch nationwide registry of histo- and cytopathology. A total of 306 glioma cases incident between 1997 and 2003 were matched to 1108 controls for year of birth, sex, geographical region and duration of follow-up. Exposure was defined as cumulative duration of AHD use and, in an alternative analysis, as cumulative dose. We estimated the magnitude of the association with conditional logistic regression analysis. Cumulative use of any AHD for more than 6 months was associated with an increased risk of glioma (OR 1.45; 95% CI 1.03-2.04). After stratification for different groups of AHD, no significantly increased risk of glioma was found for any class of AHD. After excluding a latency period of 3 years before the date of diagnosis, no association was found. In conclusion, the use of AHD seems to be associated with an increased risk of glioma, but this is probably not causal.

Original publication

DOI

10.1038/sj.bjc.6603000

Type

Journal article

Journal

British journal of cancer

Publication Date

03/2006

Volume

94

Pages

752 - 756

Addresses

Department of Neurology, St Elisabeth Hospital, PO Box 90151, 5000 LC Tilburg, The Netherlands. m.houben@erasmusmc.nl

Keywords

Humans, Glioma, Brain Neoplasms, Antihypertensive Agents, Risk Factors, Case-Control Studies, Adult, Aged, Middle Aged, Netherlands, Female, Male