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Pediatric neurological cancer incidence and trends in the United States, 2000–2018

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Abstract

Objective

To characterize the epidemiological trends and sociodemographic variation of pediatric and adolescent neurological cancers by histological subtypes over time in the USA.

Methods

A total of 16,511 patients aged 0–19 years diagnosed with neurological cancers between 2000 and 2018, including 13,024 with central nervous system (CNS) neoplasms and 3,487 with neuroblastomas, were identified from 18 registries of the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program. Incidence trends over time and incidence rate ratios by race/ethnicity, sex, and age were calculated for histological subtype. Age-standardized incidence rates (ASIR) by year of diagnosis and average annual percent changes (AAPC) were calculated to measure incidence rates. ASIR by race/ethnicity, sex, and age were calculated to examine the incidence variation by these factors.

Results

Overall, age-standardized annual incidence per 100,000 person-years increased from 2.20 in 2000 to 3.21 in 2018 with an AAPC of 1.4% (95% confidence interval or CI: 0.5% to 2.4%); however, that of Hispanic decreased from 2.93 in 2000 to 2.59 in 2018 with an AAPC of − 0.8% (95% CI: − 1.2% to − 0.3%). Non-Hispanic Black children and adolescents had a statistically significantly lower incidence than non-Hispanic White peers both for CNS neoplasms (incidence rate ratio or IRR: 0.67; 95% CI: 0.63 to 0.71) and neuroblastomas (IRR: 0.75; 95% CI: 0.68 to 0.83). Females generally had a lower incidence than males, especially among those with intracranial and intraspinal embryonal tumors (IRR: 0.69; 95% CI: 0.64 to 0.75). The highest incidence rate of neuroblastoma was among newborns aged less than 1 year, and the highest incidence rate of CNS neoplasms was among children aged 1–4 years.

Conclusion

The incidence of neurological cancers has increased among children and adolescents from 2000 to 2018, with wide variation across demographic groups.

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Data availability

Data are available from the public Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) registry data.

Code availability

Codes are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

National Nature Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 20003560 by YK) and Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (Grant No. ZR2020MH340 by YK).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health, Weifang Medical University, Shandong, China

    Yujia Kong

  2. Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine/Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Xu Ji

  3. Surveillance and Health Services Research, American Cancer Society, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Xuesong Han

  4. Department of Neurology and ICCTR Biostatistics and Research Design Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Bo Zhang

Authors
  1. Yujia Kong
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  2. Xu Ji
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  3. Xuesong Han
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  4. Bo Zhang
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Contributions

YK had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis; concept and design: XH and BZ; acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: YK, XJ, XH, and BZ; drafting of the manuscript: YK and XJ; critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: YK, XJ, XH, and BZ; statistical analysis: YK; administrative, technical, or material support: YK, XJ, XH, and BZ; and supervision: BZ and XH. The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Xuesong Han or Bo Zhang.

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None reported.

Ethical approval

This study was conducted by analyzing the de-identified, publicly available SEER data and does not constitute human subjects research. Its institutional review board review was, therefore, waived.

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Kong, Y., Ji, X., Han, X. et al. Pediatric neurological cancer incidence and trends in the United States, 2000–2018. Cancer Causes Control 33, 687–699 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-021-01535-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-021-01535-w

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