Trends in central nervous system tumor incidence relative to other common cancers in adults, adolescents, and children in the United States, 2000 to 2010.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Time trends in cancer incidence rates (IR) are important to measure the changing burden of cancer on a population over time. The overall IR of cancer in the United States is declining. Although central nervous system tumors (CNST) are rare, they contribute disproportionately to mortality and morbidity. In this analysis, the authors examined trends in the incidence of the most common cancers and CNST between 2000 and 2010. METHODS: The current analysis used data from the United States Cancer Statistics publication and the Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States. Age-adjusted IR per 100,000 population with 95% confidence intervals and the annual percent change (APC) with 95% confidence intervals were calculated for selected common cancers and CNST overall and by age, sex, race/ethnicity, selected histologies, and malignancy status. RESULTS: In adults, there were significant decreases in colon (2000-2010 APC, -3.1), breast (2000-2010 APC, -0.8), lung (2000-2010 APC, -1.1), and prostate (2000-2010 APC, -2.4) cancer as well as malignant CNST (2008-2010 APC, -3.1), but a significant increase was noted in nonmalignant CNST (2004-2010 APC, 2.7). In adolescents, there were significant increases in malignant CNST (2000-2008 APC, 1.0) and nonmalignant CNST (2004-2010 APC, 3.9). In children, there were significant increases in acute lymphocytic leukemia (2000-2010 APC, 1.0), non-Hodgkin lymphoma (2000-2010 APC, 0.6), and malignant CNST (2000-2010 APC, 0.6). CONCLUSIONS: Surveillance of IR trends is an important way to measure the changing public health and economic burden of cancer. In the current study, there were significant decreases noted in the incidence of adult cancer, whereas adolescent and childhood cancer IR were either stable or increasing.