Case-control study of intracranial meningiomas in women in Los Angeles County, California.

A case-control study was conducted among women in Los Angeles County to investigate possible causes of intracranial meningiomas. Questionnaires sought information from patients and from a neighbor of each one on characteristics and past experiences that might be associated with the development of this disease. Information was obtained on 188 matched patient-neighbor pairs. Three primary factors appeared to be associated with meningioma occurrence: 1) a history of head trauma (odds ratio = 2.0, P = 0.01), 2) consumption of certain cured meats (odds ratio = 2.8, P less than 0.01), and 3) exposure to medical and dental diagnostic X-rays to the head. For diagnostic X-rays, the strongest association was with early exposure (less than 20 yr old) to full-mouth dental X-ray series (odds ratio = 4.0, P less than 0.01).