Age distribution and age-related outcomes of olfactory neuroblastoma: a population-based analysis

The objective of the study was to describe the age distribution and to evaluate the role of prognostic value of age on survival in patients diagnosed with olfactory neuroblastoma (ONB). A population-based retrospective analysis was conducted.

The population-based study of patients in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) tumor registry, who were diagnosed with ONB from 1973 to 2014, were retrospectively analyzed.

The cohort included 876 patients with a median age of 54 years. There was a unimodal distribution of age and ONBs most frequently occurred in the fifth to sixth decades of life. Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) rates of 69% and 78% at 5 years. Multivariable Cox regression analysis showed that age, SEER stage, and surgery were independent prognostic factors for CSS. The risk of overall death and cancer-specific death increased 3.1% and 1.6% per year, respectively. Patients aged >60 years presented significantly poor OS and CSS compared with patients aged ≤60 years, even in patients with loco-regional disease or in those treated with surgery.

This study highlights the growing evidence that there is a unimodal age distribution of ONB and that age is an important adverse prognostic factor.