Prognostic value of age in neurological cancer: an analysis of 22,393 cases from the SEER database

Although the risk of neurological cancer (NC) is age-dependent, few studies have evaluated the prognostic value of age in determining NC survival in a large population. The aim of this retrospective study was to compare the long-term survival of young and elderly NC patients. We searched the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End-Results database and identified 22,393 patients who were diagnosed with NC between 1988 and 2003 and were treated with surgery. Patients were categorized as young (≤40 years old) or elderly (>40 years old), and 5-year NC-specific survival (NCSS) data were obtained for each patient. A Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and the Cox proportional hazards model were used to analyze long-term survival outcomes and risk factors. The two groups differed significantly in terms of pathological grade, histological type, stage, and tumor size (P < 0.001). A difference in 5-year NCSS rates (63.8 and 19.0% in young and elderly patients, respectively) was detected by uni- and multivariate analyses. A stratified analysis of age on cancer survival revealed significant differences at T1-T4 stages. Age has prognostic value for determining NC risk. NCSS is higher in young than in elderly NC patients.