Hospitalizations for Brain Cancer, 2006

STATISTICAL BRIEF #68
March 2009
Hospitalizations for Brain Cancer, 2006
Laurel Holmquist, M.A., C. Allison Russo, M.P.H., and Anne Elixhauser, Ph.D.

AHRQ's analysis also shows that in 2006:

- Nationally, the hospitalization rate for brain cancer remained stable since 1995—roughly about 35,000 hospital stays a year.
- An additional 38,000 hospital admissions were associated with brain cancer—mostly for chemotherapy or radiotherapy to continue treatment, or for convulsions, pneumonia or other complication from the disease. These hospitalizations increased 18 percent since 1995.
- Among people over 65, men were 62 percent more likely to be hospitalized primarily for brain cancer and 55 percent more likely to be hospitalized with brain cancer as a secondary diagnosis than were women.
- While 6.2 percent of hospital patients admitted for brain cancer died while hospitalized in 1995, the rate dropped to 4.4 percent in 2006.

Highlights
There were nearly 73,500 hospitalizations related to brain cancer in 2006, or nearly 24.6 stays per 100,000 population.

Between 1995 and 2006, the rate of hospitalizations principally for brain cancer remained stable, but the rate with brain cancer as a secondary diagnosis increased over 18 percent.

Deaths in the hospital due to brain cancer have decreased by nearly one-third since 1995, from 6.2 percent to 4.4 percent.

The rate of brain cancer-related hospitalization increased dramatically with age; men over 65 had the highest rates of hospitalization for brain cancer.

The Northeast had the highest rates of hospitalization related to brain cancer.

About 55 percent of all brain cancer-related hospitalizations had some form of cancer or cancer therapy as the principal reason for admission. Many of the remaining cases were admitted for treatment of conditions that are likely sequelae of cancer and its treatment.

Compared with adults, children have lower hospitalization rates for frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobe tumors and higher rates for cerebellar and brain stem tumors.

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Statistical Brief #68