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18.1 Summary
The group of cancers of the brain and other central nervous system includes those which occur in the brain (more than 90% of the cancers), meninges (~3%) and cranial nerves or spinal cord (~3%); (National Cancer Registry, 2010b). Brain and other central nervous system cancer (CNS) was the fifteenth most common cancer in Ireland, accounting for 1.7% of all malignant neoplasms, excluding non-melanoma skin cancer, in women and 2.1% in men (Table 18.1). The average number of new cases diagnosed each year was 174 in women and 234 in men. During 1995-2007, the number of new cases diagnosed showed an overall increase of approximately 3% per annum.
The risk of developing brain and CNS cancer before the age of 75 was 1 in 204 for women and 1 in 134 for men and was slightly higher in RoI than in NI. At the end of 2008, 563 women and 706 men aged under 65, and 123 women and 111 men aged 65 and over, were alive up to 15 years after their cancer diagnosis.
Table 18.1 Summary information for brain and other central nervous system cancer in Ireland, 1995-2007
Ireland | RoI | NI | ||||
females | males | females | males | females | males | |
% of all new cancer cases | 1.2% | 1.5% | 1.3% | 1.6% | 1.1% | 1.5% |
% of all new cancer cases excluding non-melanoma skin cancer | 1.7% | 2.1% | 1.8% | 2.2% | 1.4% | 2.0% |
average number of new cases per year | 174 | 234 | 125 | 166 | 49 | 68 |
cumulative risk to age 74 | 0.5% | 0.7% | 0.5% | 0.8% | 0.4% | 0.7% |
15-year prevalence (1994-2008) | 686 | 817 | 467 | 571 | 219 | 246 |
Cancer of the brain and CNS was predominantly a disease of younger persons (Figure 18.1). Approximately half of all new cases presented under 60 years of age (55% of men and 47% of women). The average age at diagnosis was younger in NI than in RoI.
Figure 18.1 Age distribution of brain and other central nervous system cancer cases in Ireland, 1995-2007, by sex
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