We aim to study the demographic trends in malignant brain tumor (MBT)-related morality in adults (≥55) in the United Scale from 1999-2020.

Malignant primary brain tumors are aggressive cancers originating in the brain. These tumors have a high mortality rate due to their location, rapid growth, and limited treatment options. Over the past few decades, there has been little improvement in survival rates, and mortality trends for these tumors have remained consistently high.

Mortality data was abstracted from the CDC WONDER database and analyzed using the multiple-cause of death MCD-ICD 10 code (C71.0-C71.9). Age-adjusted mortality rates (AAMRs)/100,000 and Annual percentage changes (APCs) along with 95% CI were calculated using the Joinpoint regression and stratified by the age, gender, race, census region, state, and location of death.

A total of 242,294 primary MBT-related deaths occurred in older adults in the United States from 1999-2020. The overall AAMR declined from 15.3 in 1999 to 13.8 in 2006 (APC= -0.84, 95% CI:-1.49, -0.17), this was followed by a steep incline to 15.4 in 2020 (APC=0.55, 95% CI: 0.39, 0.70). Men exhibited a consistently higher AAMR than women from 1999 (AAMR men:18.8 vs women:12.6) to 2020 (AAMR men:18.8 vs women:12.6). When stratified by race Non-Hispanic (NH) white showed the highest AAMR (16.4) followed by Hispanics (10.1), NH black (8.5) and American Indian (7.4). Among the Census regions, Midwest had the highest AAMR (15.2), while South Dakota showed the highest state-level AAMR (18.4).

The study shows a decline in malignant brain tumour (MBT)-related mortality from 1999 to 2006, followed by an increase through 2020, with men and non-Hispanic whites having the highest mortality rates.