Ostrom QT, et al. - The differences in incidence and survival rates of glioma in adults by race or ethnicity were reported via performing a population-based analysis of 244,808 patients with glioma. Findings revealed significant variation in incidence of glioma and 1-year and 5-year survival rates after diagnosis by race or ethnicity. Non-Hispanic whites showed higher incidence and lower survival rates compared with individuals of other racial or ethnic groups.

Methods

• Researchers obtained incidence data from the Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States and survival data from Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registries, covering the period January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2014 for this population-based study.
• They generated average annual age-adjusted incidence rates with 95% CIs by glioma histologic groups, race, Hispanic ethnicity, sex, and age groups.
• Based on glioma histologic groups, race, Hispanic ethnicity, and insurance status, they generated 1-year and 5-year relative survival rates.
• In this analysis, they included 244,808 patients with glioma diagnosed in adults aged 18 years or older.
• Data collection was performed from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2014.
• From December 11, 2017, to January 31, 2018, they performed data analysis.

Results

• Researchers analyzed 244,808 patients with glioma for this work.
• Among these, glioblastomas were noted in 150,631 (61.5%), non-glioblastoma astrocytomas in 46,002 (18.8%), oligodendroglial tumors in 26,068 (10.7%), ependymomas in 8816 (3.6%), and other adult glioma diagnoses in 13,291 (5.4%).
• Data set of 137,733 males (56.3%) and 107,075 (43.7%) females was included.
• They identified 204,580 non-Hispanic whites (83.6%), 17,321 Hispanic whites (7.08%), 14,566 blacks (6.0%), 1070 American Indians or Alaska Natives (0.4%), and 5947 Asians or Pacific Islanders (2.4%).
• Non-Hispanic whites showed higher incidences of glioblastoma, non-glioblastoma astrocytoma, and oligodendroglial tumors than Hispanic whites (30% lower overall), blacks (52% lower overall), American Indians or Alaska Natives (58% lower overall), or Asians or Pacific Islanders (52% lower overall).
• Males displayed higher incidence of most tumors than females across all race or ethnicity groups, with the great difference in glioblastoma where the incidence was 60% higher overall in males.
• Patients aged 45 years or older had most of these tumors (193,329 [79.9%]), with differences in incidence by race or ethnicity appearing in all age groups.
• Hispanic whites, blacks, and Asians or Pacific Islanders were generally comparable regarding survival after diagnosis of glioma of different subtypes; but non-Hispanic whites showed lower survival after diagnosis of glioma for many tumor types, including glioblastoma, irrespective of treatment type.