The causes of high-grade glioma are not fully understood, and there is currently no clear prevention strategy. Ionising radiation is the only recognised cause of brain cancers; however, such cases are rare (Prabhakaran et al. 2019; Prasad and Haas-Kogan 2009).

The risk factors for developing high-grade glioma include:

• age (over 40 years)
• gender – 1.5 times more common in males
• race – twice as common in people of Caucasian descent (Ostrom et al. 2013)
• exposure to ionising radiation, vinyl chloride, pesticides, petroleum refining, synthetic rubber manufacturing (Alifieris & Trafalis 2015)
• rare familial genetic syndromes such as:
  • neurofibromatosis type 1 and 2
  • Li-Fraumeni cancer syndrome
  • Turcot syndrome
  • multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1
  • Lynch syndrome
  • Gorlin syndrome
  • tuberous sclerosis complex
  • Cowden’s disease (Farrell & Plotkin 2007).

There is a common myth about mobile phone usage increasing risk of cancer, in particular glioma. However, current research indicates there are no established health effects from mobile phone usage (ARPANSA 2016).