"Aside from our finding for height, which had been previously reported, these results were surprising," he said. "But, to our knowledge, no one has looked at glioma risk as related to energy balance in childhood and adolescence before."

The researchers found that the association between physical activity and glioma risk was not consistent across the lifespan. Neither physical activity nor obesity in adulthood were associated with glioma risk. Since the data were collected before the participants were diagnosed with cancer, it is unlikely that the participants would respond to the questionnaire differently because of their diagnosis, according to Christine B. Ambrosone, Ph.D., professor of oncology and chair of the Department of Cancer Prevention and Control at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. However, both Ambrosone and Moore commented that additional prospective studies are needed to confirm these findings, especially the association with obesity, which was in small numbers.

"These results highlight the potential importance of habits during childhood and adolescence for risk of brain cancer later in life. Additional research is needed to understand the biologic mechanisms that underlie these relationships," added Ambrosone, who is an editorial board member of Cancer Research and was not associated with this study.

Source: American Association for Cancer Research