Epidemiology of adult brain tumors in the Philippine General Hospital from 2018 to 2022: Initial steps to a national brain tumor registry in a lower-middle income country

In the Philippines, there is a lack of epidemiological data on brain tumors due to the absence of a national registry. To bridge this gap, our team has set out to review histopathologically-confirmed brain tumor cases from 2018 to 2022 at the largest neurosurgical center in the country. 766 brain tumor cases were identified: 115 in 2018, 173 in 2019, 143 in 2020, 148 in 2021, and 187 in 2022. The crude incidences per year were 0.39, 0.58, 0.48, 0.50 and 0.66 per 100,000 from 2018 to 2022, respectively. The 5-year crude incidence rate was 2.58 per 100,000 persons. The five-year prevalence was 115.00, 266.00, 367.48, 456.39, and 566.30. Among patients, the mean age was 49 years old, with a male:female ratio of 2:3. Most cases were among the 51–60 age group (23.6 %). The most common types were meningioma (46 %) and gliomas, glioneuronal tumors, and neuronal tumors (23 %). Metastasis to the brain accounted for 6.5 % of all brain tumors. In our study, prevalence estimates were lower than globally-reported ones, likely due to its single-center nature. Tumor types approximated international reports, except for brain metastasis frequency. This initial work is a stepping stone for a future national brain tumor registry for the Philippines.