Socio-economic characteristics of patients with glioblastoma multiforme

The incidence of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) varies across the world and also within subpopulations within each nation. Many cancers show correlation with socioeconomic status and we hypothesised that incidence of GBM also does the same. We performed a retrospective analysis of all patients treated with brain tumours at a single hospital over a 6-year period. For these patients we examined markers of socioeconomic status and reviewed their histopathological diagnosis. A total of 2859 patients had surgery between April 2006 and April 2012. Of these 880 had histological diagnosis of GBM. Records for all patients were reviewed. Based on postcodes, socioeconomic data was obtained at ward level from government sources. Markers were: average weekly household income, percentage unemployed, population density, indices of deprivation and percentage of households with no car. Data was analysed for trends between incidence per ward and socio-economic markers. Increasing incidence of GBM was associated with increasing wage (p = 0.044), less unemployment (p = 0.0002), Indices of Multiple Deprivation (p = 0.05), lower population density (p = 0.0015) and greater ownership of cars (p = 0.0005). There are unique socioeconomic characteristics for patients with GBM. Although a link to aetiology cannot be established from this limited epidemiological study, these results identify issues that these patients are more likely to face. These should be taken into account when planning support services and patient care following surgery.