University educated more at risk of developing brain tumour: study
23 Jun 2016
Highly educated people are more likely to be diagnosed with a brain tumour, according to a study by researchers.
The study found that gliomas, the most common type of brain tumour which developed in the main supporting cells in the brain called glial cells were around a quarter more common among university-educated patients.
Experts from University College London studied data pertaining to 4.3 million people in Sweden born between 1911 and 1961. The people were tracked between 1993 and 2010 which revealed that 7,100 women and 5,700 men were diagnosed with brain tumours.
Researchers also studied lifestyle factors including levels of education, their disposable income and marital status.
Men who had more than three years of university education were 19 per cent more likely to develop a glioma than men who only had up to nine years of compulsory education, the study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health found.
Educated women ran a 23-per cent risk higher for glioma, and 16-per cent higher risk for meningioma - a tumour that started in the tissues that covered and protected the brain and spinal cord.
However, the researchers stress that they had not been able to find any biological reason to explain why educated people were at higher risk.
The researchers uncovered a similar link for those in professional jobs. Men in professional or managerial roles were found to run a 20-per higher risk for glioma and a 50-per cent higher risk for acoustic neuroma, a type of non-cancerous brain tumour than men in manual roles.
The Telegraph quoted Dr Amal Khanolkar, institute of Child Health, University College London, ''This is an observational study based on national registers, so it is very hard to speculate on potential mechanisms that we couldn't really study.
''We have no reason to believe that stress is a potential risk factor, which perhaps is more common among people of lower socio-economic position so it wouldn't explain the findings."
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