RESULTS
We identified 8713 cases newly diagnosed with brain and CNS tumor from
2000-2015. 56.75% were non-Hispanic whites, 9.59% were non-Hispanic
black, 25.46% were Hispanic, and 8.19% belong to “Other” race (Table
1). The majority of cancer diagnoses were children aged 0-4 years
(31.49%). The age at diagnosis differed significantly by race/ethnicity
(p<0.0001). 53.81% of children diagnosed with brain tumor
were males and 46.19% were females. We identified no significant
differences in the distribution of patients by gender among the four
racial groups (p=0.0660). Yost quintile was significantly different by
race (p<0.0001). Non-Hispanic blacks had the largest
proportion (35.05%) belonging to Yost quintile Group 1, with
non-Hispanic whites having the largest proportion (19.82%) in Group 3,
and Other with the largest proportion (32.07% ) in Group 5.
Pilocytic astrocytoma was the most common histological type of tumor
(30.08%) and diffuse astrocytoma (protoplasma, fibrillary). The
histological type of tumor differed significantly by racial group
(p<.0001). Non-Hispanic Whites had the highest proportion of
pilocytic astrocytoma and diffuse astrocytoma (protoplasma, fibrillary)
and mixed glioma tumor types, Hispanics had the largest proportion of
ependymoma/anaplastic ependymoma/ependymoma variants and
embryonal/primitive/ medulloblastoma tumor types, and non-Hispanic
blacks had the largest proportion of astrocytoma NOS and unique variants
and glioma NOS tumor types.
By tumor stage, the majority (78.56%) were localized, with a lesser
proportion of tumors being regional (11.61%), distant (6.09%), or
unknown/unstaged (3.73%). The racial groups differed by tumor stage
(p=0.0003). The grade of the majority (68.72%) of tumors was not
described as CNS tumor grade is inferred by name, 16.93% of tumors were
described as high grade, and 14.35%, low grade tumors. Significant
differences (p=0.0043) were also noted across racial/ethnic groups by
tumor grade.
Regarding cancer therapy, among the cases with information on treatment
received, we observed a larger proportion of patients having surgery
(76.85%) than chemotherapy (41.54%) or radiation (39.60%). We noted
significant differences (p<0.0001) in cancer therapy received
by the racial/ethnic groups for all three treatment modalities.
Hispanics had the largest proportion of patients receiving chemotherapy
or radiation therapy with non-Hispanic whites having large proportions
of patient not receiving chemotherapy or radiation therapy / status
unknown. Non-Hispanic blacks had the largest proportion of patients who
received no form of surgical therapy/ surgery status unknown.