Survival analysis of children with primary malignant brain tumors in England and Wales: a population-based study.

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. Copyright (c) 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel.