Participants
As shown in Table 1, the mean age at baseline was 8.49 years (range,
1.05 to 20.41 years), with 67 (35.8%) in the younger age group. The
mean length of follow-up was 3.84 years (range, 1.00 to 14.39 years).
There was no significant difference for mean length of follow-up between
the younger and older groups (p = 0.12). All patients received
PRT; 69 (36.9%) received CSI of which 19 were in the younger group.
More than half (64.7%) received both PRT and chemotherapy. Most
(85.0%) underwent gross or near/subtotal surgical resection prior to
PRT. Medulloblastoma was the most common histology group (29.4%).
Histology was significantly related to age at baseline (p< 0.001); the ependymoma group was younger (Mean = 5.78 years,
SD = 4.34) than the other histology groups while the germ cell tumor
group (Mean = 13.82 years, SD = 2.70) was older. The majority of
patients were white (92.5%); the median household income in the
community of residence48 (a proxy indicator for SES)
was $83,664 (range, $34,118 to $213,750).