Trends in Incidence and Survival of Patients with Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Neoplasm, 1987–2016

BACKGROUND: Pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasm (pNEN), with the lowest 5-year survival rates in neuroendocrine tumors (NETs), exerts great threat to human health. Because large-scale population research aimed at pNEN is rare, we aimed to explore the tendencies and differences of changes in incidences and survival rates of pNEN in each decade from 1987 to 2016 and evaluate the impacts of age, sex, race, socioeconomic status (SES), and grade. METHODS: Data on pNEN cases from 1987 to 2016 were extracted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER) database. Kaplan–Meier, Cox proportional hazards regression analyses, and relative survival rates (RSRs) were used to identify risk factors for pNEN. RESULTS: The incidence and survival duration of pNEN increase every decade due to medical developments. The disparities of long-term survival in different age, sex, and grade groups expanded over time while that in race and SES groups narrowed. Older age and higher grade are independent risk factors for poorer survival. Females have lower incidence and longer survival than males. Prognosis of Black patients and poor (medium and high poverty) patients improved. CONCLUSIONS: This study depicted changes in incidence and survival rates of pNEN over the past three decades and evaluated potential risk factors related to pNEN, benefiting future prediction of vulnerable and clinical options.