Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Feb 19;21(3):370-379.
doi: 10.1093/neuonc/noy164.

Glioblastoma survival is improving despite increasing incidence rates: a nationwide study between 2000 and 2013 in Finland

Miikka Korja  1 , Rahul Raj  1 , Karri Seppä  2 , Tapio Luostarinen  2 , Nea Malila  2 , Matti Seppälä  1 , Hanna Mäenpää  3 , Janne Pitkäniemi  2
Affiliations

Glioblastoma survival is improving despite increasing incidence rates: a nationwide study between 2000 and 2013 in Finland

Miikka Korja et al. Neuro Oncol. .

Abstract

Background: We assessed population-level changes in glioblastoma survival between 2000 and 2013 in Finland, with focus on elderly patients (>70 y) in order to assess if changes in treatment of glioblastoma are reflected also in population-based survival rates.

Methods: We identified all patients (age ≥18 y) from the Finnish Cancer Registry (FCR) with a histopathological diagnosis of primary glioblastoma in 2000-2013. Patients were followed up until December 2015. The accuracy of register-based search of glioblastoma patients was internally validated. We report age-standardized relative survival ratios and relative excess risks (RERs) of death in 2000-2006 (pre-period) and 2007-2013 (post-period).

Results: We identified 2045 glioblastoma patients from the FCR. The accuracy of the FCR-based search was 97%. Median age was 63.3 years, and 42% were women. Incidence increased on average by 1.6% (P = 0.004) and median age by 0.4 years per calendar year. Between the pre- and post-periods, the proportion of patients >70 years increased from 24% to 27%. In >70-year-old patients, the median survival time increased from 3.6 months in 2000-2006 to 4.5 months in 2007-2013 (RER 0.82, 95% CI: 0.68-0.98). In ≤70-year-old patients, the median survival time increased from 9.3 months in 2000-2006 to 11.7 months in 2007-2013 (RER 0.74, 95% CI: 0.67-0.82).

Conclusion: Despite the increased proportion of elderly glioblastoma patients, population-level survival of glioblastoma patients has improved since the year 2000. However, increasing incidence, increasing age of patients, and poor survival in elderly are alarming, and future studies should perhaps focus more on elderly.

Keywords: elderly; epidemiological study; glioblastoma; glioma; malignant glioma.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Age-standardized (the European Standardized Population in 2013) incidence of glioblastoma (per 100000 person-years) in Finland in 2000–2013 with 95% confidence intervals. To the left, the incidence for men and women and to the right the incidence for men and women separately. Data from the Finnish Cancer Registry.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Comparison of age-standardized cumulative relative survival ratios between persons diagnosed in 2000–2006 (dashed line) compared with 2007–2013 (solid line). To the left, all patients, men in the middle, and women to the right. Data from the Finnish Cancer Registry.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Comparison of age-standardized cumulative relative survival ratios between patients over and under 70 years of age diagnosed during 2000–2006 (dashed line) and 2007–2013 (solid line). To the left, all patients, in the middle men, and to the left women. Data from the Finnish Cancer Registry.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ostrom QT, Gittleman H, Fulop J, et al. . CBTRUS statistical report: primary brain and central nervous system tumors diagnosed in the United States in 2008–2012. Neuro Oncol. 2015;17(Suppl 4):iv1–iv62. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dolecek TA, Propp JM, Stroup NE, Kruchko C. CBTRUS statistical report: primary brain and central nervous system tumors diagnosed in the United States in 2005–2009. Neuro Oncol. 2012;14(Suppl 5):v1–v49. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Louis DN, Ohgaki H, Wiestler OD, et al. . The 2007 WHO classification of tumours of the central nervous system. Acta Neuropathol. 2007;114(2):97–109. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Louis DN, Perry A, Reifenberger G, et al. . The 2016 World Health Organization classification of tumors of the central nervous system: a summary. Acta Neuropathol. 2016;131(6):803–820. - PubMed
    1. Allemani C, Matsuda T, Di Carlo V, et al. ; CONCORD Working Group. Global surveillance of trends in cancer survival 2000-14 (CONCORD-3): analysis of individual records for 37 513 025 patients diagnosed with one of 18 cancers from 322 population-based registries in 71 countries. Lancet. 2018;391(10125):1023–1075. - PMC - PubMed