Epidemiology of pediatric tumors of the central nervous system.

Tumors of the CNS are the second most frequent malignancy in childhood and the most common of the solid tumors. An increase in CNS tumor rates during the past decades has been observed in a number of countries. One possibility is that improvements in diagnostics of CNS tumors contributed to the increasing trend. Another concern is that changes in environmental exposures may be responsible for the increasing incidence rates and a number of epidemiologic studies investigated factors like exposure to ionizing radiation, electromagnetic fields, or pesticides. In addition, prenatal exposures, for example from maternal diet, or the role of infectious agents were of particular interest. In this review, the current knowledge on causes of pediatric CNS tumors is summarized.