title: Survival analysis of children with primary malignant brain tumors in England and Wales: a population-based study.
abstract: Primary malignant brain tumor is the second most common cancer in children. To investigate factors affecting children's survival at a population level, data of 3,169 patients (age<15 years) from the Cancer Registry in England and Wales were used. They were diagnosed during 1971-1990 and followed up until 1995. Variables including age, gender, morphology, WHO grade, tumor site, socioeconomic status, geographical region, and period of diagnosis were available for analysis using the Kaplan-Meier method and the Cox hazards ratio (HR) regression. Results showed that the median survival and the 1-, 5-, and 10-year crude survival rate for this population were 8.7 years, 72.4, 54.0, and 49.2% respectively. Survival was influenced by age (HR 0.88/5 years), morphology (ependymoma HR 2.43), WHO grades (HR 1.42/grade), tumor sites (brain stem HR 2.11), and periods of diagnosis (HR 0.88/5 years). Gender, socioeconomic status, and geographical region did not affect their survival. Results from this population-based data are very helpful for comparison with other hospital-based studies and for public health purposes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Division of Neurosurgery, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Jen-Ho
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Tseng
authors.forename: Ming-Yuan
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Tseng
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012042:Registries; D012307:Risk Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate; D014852:Wales / Q000453:epidemiology