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Do race and age vary in non-malignant central nervous system tumor incidences in the United States?

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Abstract

Epidemiological analyses of many cancers have demonstrated differences in incidence and outcome for patients from different racial backgrounds. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of non-malignant CNS tumors by race and age to identify incidence variance. Data from the Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States (CBTRUS) from 2009 to 2013 were used to calculate age-adjusted incidence rates (IR) per 100,000 population and 95% confidence intervals for selected tumors overall, by race, age group, and race stratified by age group. In those aged 0–14 years, Whites had significantly greater IR of neuronal and mixed neuronal-glial tumors (IR = 0.37) compared to Others (IR = 0.26) and Blacks (IR = 0.24). In those 15–39 years, Blacks had significantly greater IR of tumors of the pituitary (IR = 3.80) than Others (IR = 3.29) and Whites (IR = 3.15), and significantly greater IR of grade I meningioma (IR = 1.93) than Whites (IR = 1.59) and Others (IR = 1.21). In those 40 years and older, Blacks had significantly greater IR of grade I meningioma (IR = 19.16) compared to Whites (IR = 15.77) and Others (IR = 15.32), and significantly greater IR of tumors of the pituitary (IR = 10.47) than Others (IR = 5.85) and Whites (IR = 4.99). Others had significantly greater IR of nerve sheath tumors (IR = 4.00) compared to Whites (IR = 3.46) and Blacks (IR = 1.64). The incidence of non-malignant CNS tumors differs significantly by race and age in the USA. These differences may contribute to previously-described health outcome disparities.

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Funding

Funding for CBTRUS was provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under Contract No. 200-2016-M-90304, The Sontag Foundation, Genentech, Novocure, AbbVie, Celldex, along with the Musella Foundation, Voices Against Brain Cancer, and the Zelda Dorin Tetenbaum Memorial Fund, as well as private and in kind donations. Contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the CDC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Haley Gittleman, Quinn T. Ostrom & Jill S. Barnholtz-Sloan

  2. Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States, Hinsdale, IL, USA

    Haley Gittleman, Quinn T. Ostrom, Carol Kruchko & Jill S. Barnholtz-Sloan

  3. Cushing Neurosurgical Outcomes Center, Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    David J. Cote, Timothy R. Smith & Elizabeth B. Claus

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  1. Haley Gittleman
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Correspondence to Jill S. Barnholtz-Sloan.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. The data used for this study were de-identified.

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This was a retrospective study using de-identified national cancer registries. Thus, formal consent was not required.

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Gittleman, H., Cote, D.J., Ostrom, Q.T. et al. Do race and age vary in non-malignant central nervous system tumor incidences in the United States?. J Neurooncol 134, 269–277 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11060-017-2543-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11060-017-2543-4

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