Searchable abstracts of presentations at key conferences in endocrinology
Endocrine Abstracts (2010) 22 P617

1Department of Endocrinology, Aalborg Hospital, Aarhus University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark; 2Department of Endocrinology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark; 3Department of Neurosurgery, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark; 4Department of Endocrinology, Herlev Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; 5Department of Neurosurgery, Glostrup Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; 6Medical Department M (Endocrinology and Diabetes), Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus Sygehus, Aarhus, Denmark; 7Department of Neurosurgery, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus Sygehus, Aarhus, Denmark; 8Department of Endocrinology, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark; 9Department of Neurosurgery, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark; 10Department of Neurosurgery, Aarhus University Hospital, Aalborg, Aalborg, Denmark.


Background: Craniopharyngioma may be associated with severe morbidity. Few data exist on incidence rate (IR) and possible changes with time. The epidemiology of craniopharyngioma in Denmark has never been evaluated in detail.

Objectives: To review the literature on craniopharyngioma incidence and to study the epidemiology of craniopharyngioma in Denmark during a recent 20-year period.

Material and methods: Publications including data on craniopharyngioma incidence were identified via searches of PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/) and derived reference lists.

Patients with craniopharyngioma diagnosed during the period 1985–2004 were identified from the Danish National Patient Registry, the Danish Cancer Registry and various local registries. Medical records were manually reviewed. Age, gender and calendar year specific population data were obtained from Statistics Denmark, while EU and WHO World population data were obtained from EU (http://www.euphix.org) and WHO (http://www.who.int/healthinfo/paper31.pdf) homepages. IRs are given as new cases/million/year.

Results: Fourteen previous studies reported craniopharyngioma IRs between 0.88 and 5.71. A geographical pattern was not obvious. All studies included children; 7 also included adults. Male/female IR ratios were 0.95–1.18. One study suggested increasing IRs during the study period.

Our Danish survey revealed 189 new cases (among 697 candidates from registries) of histologically verified (162) or probable (27) craniopharyngioma. The IR was 1.55 (95% CI: 1.32–1.81) for verified cases (World-standardised 1.61 [1.37–1.87]) and 1.81 (1.56–2.08) for all cases (World-standardised 1.86 [1.60–2.14]). There was no difference in IR between women (1.72 [1.32–2.11]) and men (1.90 [1.54–2.32]). Peak IRs were seen in four 5–years age groups: 5–9/15–19/40–44/ 65–69 years (IRs 3.48/2.15/2.86/2.62). Regression analysis showed increasing IR over time (P=0.041), averaging 2.2% per year.

Conclusions: Reported IRs of craniopharyngioma vary considerably. In Denmark, the World-standardised IR was 1.61 to 1.86 cases/million/year. The craniopharyngioma IR in Denmark is increasing.

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