Epidemiologic trends of and factors associated with overall survival in patients with neuroendocrine tumors over the last two decades in the USA.

Background: Updated epidemiological data of neuroendocrine tumors are currently lacking. Thus, we performed epidemiological and survival analyses on a large cohort of patients with neuroendocrine tumors and developed a new nomogram to predict survival.

Methods: This population-based study examined 112,256 patients with neuroendocrine tumors between 2000 and 2018 using data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program.

Results: The age-adjusted incidence per 100,000 persons of neuroendocrine tumors increased from 4.90 in 2000 to 8.19 in 2018 (annual percentage change, 3.40; 95% confidence interval, 3.13-3.67), with the most significant increases in grade 1, localized stage, and appendix neuroendocrine tumors. The age-adjusted mortality rate increased 3.1-fold from 2000 to 2018 (annual percentage change, 4.14; 95% confidence interval, 3.14-5.15). The 1-, 5-, and 10-year relative survival rates for all neuroendocrine tumors were 80.5%, 68.4%, and 63.5%, respectively. Multivariate analyses showed that male sex; older age; Black, American Indian, and Alaska Native populations; earlier year of diagnosis; lung neuroendocrine tumors; higher grades; and later stage were associated with a worse prognosis and that disease stage and grade were the most important risk factors for prognosis. Furthermore, we established a nomogram to predict the 3-, 5-, and 10-year survival rates, and its discrimination ability was better than that of the TNM classification.

Conclusions: The incidence, prevalence, and mortality rate of neuroendocrine tumors continued to increase over the last two decades. Additionally, the nomogram could accurately quantify the risk of death in patients with neuroendocrine tumors and had good clinical practicability.