incidence of glioma?

hi,

i'm wondering if anyone has seen any information related to the
incidence of glioma, particularly whether or not rates have increased
in the past several years. the reason i'm curious is that a few people
i know have had brain tumors over the past 2 and a half years. one
glioblastoma multiforme, one grade II astrocytoma, and a potential
grade I astrocytoma. (we'll know if the last person has an astrocytoma
or something else hopefully next week.) also a friend's sister had a
meningioma removed this year.

all of these people live in the same metro region in one state. i've
contacted the state cancer registry to ask for a detailed breakdown of
brain tumor stats and am waiting for a response. i've looked at the
stats for gliomas and it definitely seems to be against the odds that i
would know 2 (maybe 3) people suffering from this. i know a lot of
people but not close to 100,000 that would match the incidence stats
i've seen.

i'm a bit concerned - and at times terrified. of course my biggest
concern is for the well-being of these friends, but i'm also scared
because the guy with the grade II astrocytoma and the potential grade I
or II astrocytoma are from the same group of about 20 friends. we spent
a lot of time together over the past 3 years. (the guy with GBM was
not part of this group.) it just seems really odd. i'm trying to not
panic, and wait to find out more about the second friend's diagnosis.
but i'm finding myself to be pretty stressed out. (probably also
because i spent almost every night at the icu in the past week - that
friend is doing really well though - yay!)

so does anyone have any insight, comments, references to statistics?
i'm not looking to open an x-file or talking conspiracy theory here...
i am just concerned about potential factors in our environment. maybe
it's just a weird pattern in randomness though. meanwhile, anyone
have any idea how i could fake something to get my insurance to pay for
an MRI? only half-kidding... ugh.

thanks,
k

alarmclockin@yahoo.com wrote:

> i'm wondering if anyone has seen any information related to the
> incidence of glioma, particularly whether or not rates have increased
> in the past several years. the reason i'm curious is that a few people
> i know have had brain tumors over the past 2 and a half years. one
> glioblastoma multiforme, one grade II astrocytoma, and a potential
> grade I astrocytoma. (we'll know if the last person has an astrocytoma
> or something else hopefully next week.) also a friend's sister had a
> meningioma removed this year.
>
> all of these people live in the same metro region in one state. i've
> contacted the state cancer registry to ask for a detailed breakdown of
> brain tumor stats and am waiting for a response. i've looked at the
> stats for gliomas and it definitely seems to be against the odds that i
> would know 2 (maybe 3) people suffering from this. i know a lot of
> people but not close to 100,000 that would match the incidence stats
> i've seen.
>
> i'm a bit concerned - and at times terrified. of course my biggest
> concern is for the well-being of these friends, but i'm also scared
> because the guy with the grade II astrocytoma and the potential grade I
> or II astrocytoma are from the same group of about 20 friends. we spent
> a lot of time together over the past 3 years. (the guy with GBM was
> not part of this group.) it just seems really odd. i'm trying to not
> panic, and wait to find out more about the second friend's diagnosis.
> but i'm finding myself to be pretty stressed out. (probably also
> because i spent almost every night at the icu in the past week - that
> friend is doing really well though - yay!)
>
> so does anyone have any insight, comments, references to statistics?
> i'm not looking to open an x-file or talking conspiracy theory here...
> i am just concerned about potential factors in our environment. maybe
> it's just a weird pattern in randomness though. meanwhile, anyone
> have any idea how i could fake something to get my insurance to pay for
> an MRI? only half-kidding... ugh.

Develop a sudden blinding headache.

I suspect it's the age group you're hanging out with, the frequent use of
scans as a precaution when symptoms present..(as opposed to throwing a pill
at it first).

You could look up each type and see which age group (or gender) is most
(frequently) affected.

As to statistics, there's some here and data by state.
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/stt/stt_0.asp

Hope this helps and best wishes to those affected.
J