Survival analysis for pediatric glioma in England and Wales: A population-based study

To investigate factors affecting the survival for pediatric gliomas at a national population level, data of 3,169 patients (age < 15 years) from the Cancer Registry in England and Wales were analysed. These gliomas were diagnosed during 1971-1990 and followed up until 1995. Potential variables affecting the median survival and crude survival rates (CSR), including age at diagnosis, gender, morphology, World Health Organization (WHO) grade, tumor site, socio-economic 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 CSR 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, p < 0.001), morphology (p < 0.05), WHO grades (HR 1.42/grade, p < 0.001), tumor sites (p < 0.001), and periods of diagnosis (HR 0.88/5 years, p < 0.001). Gender, socio-economic status, and geographical region did not affect survival for pediatric gliomas.