Mortality trends of brain and central nervous system cancers in Babol, northern Iran (2013-2021)

Cancers of the brain and central nervous system, with more than 250,000 deaths in 2020 and an age-adjusted mortality rate of 3.05 per 100,000, rank twelfth in mortality among various cancers. Our study aimed to investigate the crude rate, age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) and the trends of brain and CNS malignancies over nine years in northern Iran.

This cross-sectional study conducted a thorough analysis of mortality caused by brain and CNS cancers in Babol between the years 2013 and 2021. Death registration and classification systems at Babol University of Medical Sciences were used to collect the cause-of-death data. A census sampling method was used to determine the number of brain and CNS cancers deaths. All analyses were done using SPSS Version 22 and STATA Version 14. The significance level was set at (p<0.05). The crude and age-standardized mortality rate was calculated. The Cochran-Armitage Trend Test was utilized to determine the mortality trend.

The crude rates and ASMRs for brain and CNS cancers increased, from 3.3 and 3.2 per 100,000 people in 2013 to 7.0 and 6.3 per 100,000 in 2021, respectively (p < 0.001). Additionally, over the nine years, an increasing trend was explicitly observed for brain cancer (p < 0.001), while the trends for other cancers remained stable.

The ASMR and the trend of brain and CNS cancers are on the rise. This study's findings could be beneficial for designing monitoring programs and investigating cancer risk factors.