Epidemiology of brain tumors among adolescents and young adults in Nigeria

Abstract

Adolescents and Young Adults (AYA), have distinct endocrine and psychosocial peculiarities. Brain tumors occur less among AYAs, compared to other age groups and with better prognosis. There is however a paucity of literature about brain tumors in AYA in sub-Saharan Africa. We aim to describe the clinical characteristics of brain tumors in AYA across five neurosurgical centers in Nigeria and the associated factors. We report results for older children (10–14 years), adolescents (15–19 years) and young adults (20–24 years). This was a retrospective review of AYA with brain tumors over a 10-year period (2010–2019). Data analysis was by descriptive statistics, Chi square test and multinomial regression at α0.05. There were 104 AYAand the male to female ratio was 1.2:1. Headache (79.8%) and visual symptoms (65.4%) were the most common presenting symptoms. Focal limb weakness (44.1%) occurred less frequently. Median duration of symptoms prior to presentation was 9 months. Glioma was the most common tumor (31, 29.8%) while pituitary adenoma and craniopharyngioma constituted 30.8% of the tumors. Patients with symptom duration of ≤one year were more likely to have infratentorial tumors. There was no significant association between the KPS following intervention and the AYA characteristics. Age group was not significantly associated with any of the presenting symptoms except ataxia, which was significantly higher among the 10 to 14 years group.We have described the epidemiology of brain tumors within AYA in Nigeria and highlighted a need to maximize their care and meet their special needs.