Years of life lost due to central nervous system tumor subtypes in the United States.

Background: Years of Life Lost (YLL) is a disease burden measure quantifying the number of years lost due to premature mortality for a given disease. The present study sought to assess YLL for primary brain and other central nervous system (CNS) tumor histopathologies in the United States.

Methods: Mortality, incidence, and life expectancy data for mortalities occurring in 2018 were obtained from the National Vital Statistics System and the National Program of Cancer Registries. Tumor specific YLL was estimated by subtracting age of death from projected life expectancy; mean YLL (mYLL) was determined to assess the impact of CNS tumor diagnosis on the individual patient level.

Results: For mortalities occurring in 2018, the total YLL due to malignant CNS tumors was 364,223 years (mYLL = 21.2 years), compared to 15,472 years (mYLL = 14.2 years) for non-malignant tumors. Glioblastoma had the highest total YLL amongst malignant CNS tumors (58.8% of all primary CNS tumor YLL; mYLL = 19.8 years), and non-malignant meningioma amongst non-malignant CNS tumors (2.9% of all primary CNS tumor YLL; mYLL = 14.4 years). Malignant pediatric tumors had the greatest mYLL, with medulloblastoma having a mYLL of 61.2 years and other embryonal tumors a mYLL of 50.7.

Conclusions: Malignant CNS tumors, glioblastoma in particular, contributed the most to total YLL, whereas pediatric CNS malignancies had the greatest mYLL. Used with other epidemiological data, the authors contend that this quantification may help rationalize allocation of clinical and research resources.