Purpose: We aimed to analyse trends in incidence, mortality and 5-year relative survival of malignant and benign/borderline brain and central nervous system (CNS) tumours between 1980 and 2021 in the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland, stratified by sex, age group, behaviour and histological subtypes. Methods: We used incidence data from the Cancer Registry of Zurich, Zug, Schaffhausen and Schwyz, including primary benign/borderline and malignant tumours diagnosed between 1980 and 2021 in the Canton of Zurich in patients aged ≥ 15 years (N = 10,226). Mortality data were provided by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (N = 3514). We calculated age-standardised incidence and mortality rates per 100,000 person-years and used Joinpoint to analyse trends. Conclusions: We observed an increase in incidence and a decrease in mortality rates for benign/borderline tumours, while both rates remained stable for malignant tumours. Five-year relative survival improved over time. The increasing incidence rates in benign/borderline tumours may be due to improved diagnostic techniques and an increasing use of CT scans, as reported in other countries. The increase in relative survival may reflect earlier detection and better treatment options.
Wanner et al. (2025) studied this question.