Incidence of primary cancer of the central nervous system in southeastern Netherlands during the period 1980-94. Specialists in neuro-oncology in southeastern Netherlands.

Abstract Substantial increases in incidence and mortality rates for primary brain tumors have been reported in many, but not all, countries over the past several decades. We analyzed incidence rates for (potential) primary malignant central nervous system (CNS) tumors in an area (southeastern Netherlands) and during a period (1980-94) in which access to healthcare was good and computerized tomography (CT) was available. Data were obtained from the Eindhoven and Maastricht cancer registries, representing a population of 936,000 and 847,000 inhabitants, respectively. Cases were identified of primary CNS tumors (ICD-0 codes 191, 192, excluding lymphomas) and brain metastases from an unknown primary site (code 199) and data on mortality according to gender and region were provided by Statistics Netherlands. Incidence rates in three-year periods of primary CNS cancer remained stable, also for patients aged 60 years and older. Mortality/incidence ratios ranged from 0.6 to 0.9. Although more CNS cancers were histologically verified in recent years, especially in the Eindhoven region, changes in diagnosis probably did not influence the overall trend of primary CNS cancer. Major changes in the incidence of the most common types of primary CNS cancers (i.e., high-grade astrocytomas) were unlikely in southeastern Netherlands.