Purpose: The incidence of neuroendocrine neoplasms is increasing. This work aimed at: (i) establishing worldwide incidence trend of low-grade neuroendocrine neoplasms; (ii) defining the incidence and temporal trend of high-grade neuroendocrine neoplasms in USA utilizing the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results database; (iii) comparing trends for low-grade vs. high-grade neuroendocrine neoplasms.
Methods: We conducted a literature search on MEDLINE and Scopus databases and incidence trends were plotted for 1973-2012. The Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results database was used to identify incidence rates in USA for 1973-2012. Incidence rates were stratified according to histological grade, gender and ethnicity. Trends were summarized as annual percent change and corresponding 95% confidence interval.
Results: 11 studies were identified involving 72,048 cases; neuroendocrine neoplasm incidence rates increased over time in all countries for all sites, except for appendix. In Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results low-grade neuroendocrine neoplasm incidence rate increased from 1.09 in 1973 to 3.51 per 100,000 in 2012. During this interval, high-grade neuroendocrine neoplasm incidence rate increased from 2.54 to 10.52 per 100,000. African Americans had the highest rates of digestive neuroendocrine neoplasms with male prevalence in high-grade.
Conclusions: Our data indicate an increase in the incidence of neuroendocrine neoplasms as a worldwide phenomenon, affecting most anatomical sites and involving both low-grade and high-grade neoplasms.
Keywords: Cancer; High-grade; Incidence; Low-grade; Neuroendocrine.