| Title |
Epidemiology of primary brain tumors in childhood and adolescence in Kuwait
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
SpringerPlus, February 2013
|
| DOI | 10.1186/2193-1801-2-58 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Kenneth Chukwuka Katchy, Susan Alexander, Nabila Mohammed Al-Nashmi, Abbas Al-Ramadan |
| Abstract |
The relatively high frequency of primary brain tumors (PBT) observed in childhood and adolescence in Kuwait has necessitated this epidemiological study. It is based on the records of the Department of Pathology, Al-Sabah Hospital, which examined all brain tumor biopsies done in this age group in Kuwait between 1995 and 2011. During this period, 75 boys (49%) boys and 77 (51%) girls had histologically confirmed PBT. They comprised 122 children (0-14 years) and 30 adolescents (15-19 years). The boys/girls ratio was 1.03 in childhood and 0.76 in adolescence. The age-adjusted incidence rate was 11.2/ million person-years. Early childhood (0-4 years) had the peak frequency of tumors (33%), highest adjusted age-specific incidence rate (3.8/million person-years) of all tumors and the least boys/girls rates ratio (0.38) for astrocytic tumors. Low grade and high grade tumors peaked in 5-9 and 0-4 years respectively. Risk factors (hereditary syndromes or previous radio-therapy) were identified in three patients. Three (2%) tumors were congenital. High grade tumors comprised 47% of childhood and 23% of adolescence PBT. The most common tumors in childhood were astrocytoma (37%), embryonal tumors (31%), ependymoma (8%), and in adolescence astrocytoma (27%), pituitary adenoma (23%) and glioblastoma (13%). Embryonal tumors formed 44% of PBT in early childhood. Gliomas constituted 54% and 43% of all PBT, but 25% and 57% of high grade tumors in childhood and adolescence respectively. Most common tumor locations were cerebellum (47%), ventricles (19%) and cerebral lobes (17%) in childhood and pituitary (30%), cerebellum (27%) and 13% each for cerebral lobes and ventricles in adolescence. Approximately 57% of childhood and 23% of adolescence PBT were infratentorial. In conclusion, despite the high relative frequency of PBT before the age of 20 years in Kuwait, its incidence rate is apparently low. Compared with Western countries, Kuwait has a lower incidence of malignant gliomas, but a higher frequency of cerebellar and intraventricular tumors. Embryonal tumors are remarkably common in early childhood. |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 38 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| India | 1 | 3% |
| Unknown | 37 | 97% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Postgraduate | 7 | 18% |
| Student > Bachelor | 5 | 13% |
| Student > Master | 4 | 11% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 3 | 8% |
| Researcher | 3 | 8% |
| Other | 6 | 16% |
| Unknown | 10 | 26% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Medicine and Dentistry | 21 | 55% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 4 | 11% |
| Unspecified | 1 | 3% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 1 | 3% |
| Unknown | 11 | 29% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 18 February 2013.
All research outputs
#20,182,546
of 22,696,971 outputs
Outputs from SpringerPlus
#1,461
of 1,852 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#169,375
of 192,548 outputs
Outputs of similar age from SpringerPlus
#57
of 112 outputs
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