The incidence of intracranial gliomas in southern Finland.

146 intracranial gliomas were found in an epidemiological study of adults in southern Finland 1978-1980. The mean adult population was 896,000 in the study area. The age- and sex-adjusted incidence was 5.6/100,000/year for all gliomas and 4.7 for the histologically verified ones. The incidence was 6.4 for men and 4.9 for women. Of the histologically verified 126 (86%) neoplasms 41 (32%) were glioblastomas, 29 (23%) anaplastic astrocytomas, 30 (24%) benign astrocytomas and 26 (21%) oligodendrogliomas, mixed oligo-astrocytomas, ependymomas, medulloblastomas or gangliogliomas; 20 (14%) were without histological verification.