Non-malignant Brain Tumour
What is it?
A brain tumour is a mass of abnormal cells in or around the brain. The cause of most brain tumours is unknown. Several factors may be associated with an increased risk of developing a brain tumour, including radiation exposure, a family history of brain tumours, and advancing age. Non-malignant brain tumours grow slowly and do not invade surrounding tissues. While non-malignant brain tumours are noncancerous (benign), their impact on brain function is nonetheless serious and may cause significant neurological symptoms, including behavioural and cognitive changes, dizziness, headaches, seizures, paralysis and even death. Although some tumours can be surgically removed, surgery is not always an option due to the location of the tumour in the brain. In many cases, radiation is used to treat non-malignant brain tumours.
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- number of people in Ontario with the disorder
- age of people with the disorder
- sex ratio of people with the disorder
- what other brain disorders commonly co-occur
- overlap with mental health and addictions health system use
- costs & cost drivers associated with health system use
Sex breakdown
On April 1, 2019 females accounted for 70% of the 9,798 Ontarians identified with a non-malignant brain tumour.
Age breakdown
On April 1, 2019 the majority of people with a non-malignant brain tumour were between the ages of 40 and 64 years, with 54% of people being over the age of 65. The mean age of a person with a non-malignant brain tumour was 65 ± 16 years.
Number of people
Incidence is the number of people newly diagnosed with a disorder within a given time period while prevalence is the number of people existing with the disorder at a given time.
The incidence and prevalence of Ontarians with a non-malignant brain tumour are depicted in orange and blue, respectively. Between 2011 and 2019, incidence changed from 5.68 to 4.98 per 100,000 people and prevalence increased from 52.38 to 64.79 per 100,000 people.
In total, the number of people with a non-malignant brain tumour increased from 6,928 in 2011 to 9,798 people in 2019.
Cost drivers
In 2019, the average total cost to the health system for an Ontarian with a non-malignant brain tumour was 3.9X more for an incident case than a prevalent case. Cost relationship is indicated by total box size. The largest cost driver of incident cases was attributable to hospital care (57%), while hospital care (34%) and long term care (20%) had the highest costs for prevalent cases.
The average total health care costs for a person with a non-malignant brain tumour (prevalent case) for 1 year are 5X higher for pediatric individuals (0 – 17 years), 4X higher for adults (18 – 64 years) and 2X higher for seniors (65+ years) compared to the average Ontarian.
Cost driver breakdown
Overall, health care costs (in Canadian dollars, 2019) for people with a non-malignant brain tumour are higher for the senior (65+ years) population compared to adults (18 – 64 years) and are also higher for males than females. The cost drivers, those services that drive health care costs, vary depending on age and sex. Amongst adults, hospital care accounts for the largest cost driver at 43% of all costs, while hospital care and long term care drives costs in the senior population at 31% and 24% respectively. Hospital care is the largest cost driver in both females and males representing 31% and 40% of the health care costs respectively.
Co-occurring brain disorders
Of those individuals who were identified as having a non-malignant brain tumour between 2011 and 2019, 60% (blue) were also identified as having one of the other 12 brain disorders studied using health administrative data. Stroke was the top co-occurring brain disorder, with 15% of those with a non-malignant brain tumour also having had a stroke or transient ischemic attack, followed by 15% having epilepsy and 13% having dementia.
Mental health
Of those individuals who were identified as having a non-malignant brain tumour in 2019, their visit rates for mental health and addictions related services were between 1.5X to 1.7X greater than the general Ontario population, depending on visit type.