Premature Mortality Due to Malignancies of the Central Nervous System in Canada, 1980-2010

In this study, we investigated whether there has been an improvement in premature mortality due to central nervous system (CNS) cancers among the Canadian population from 1980 through 2010.

Mortality data for CNS cancers were obtained from World Health Organization mortality database. Years of life lost (YLL) was estimated using Canadian life tables. Average lifespan shortened (ALSS) was calculated and defined as the ratio of YLL relative to the expected lifespan.

Over this study period, we observed decreases in age standardized rates to the World Standard Population for mortality due to CNS cancers from 5.3 to 4.1 per 100,000 men, and from 3.6 to 2.9 per 100,000 women. Average YLL decreased from 23.6 to 21.5 years of life among men, and from 27.0 to 23.1 years among women in 1980 and 2010, respectively. The ALSS showed that men with CNS cancers lost 30.1% of their life span and women lost 32.5% in 1980, whereas they lost 25.8 and 26.6% in 2010, respectively.

Our study shows that -Canadian people with CNS cancers have had their lives prolonged at the end of the study period.