In reported cases of the tumor over the last 25 years, the number of affected females with astroblastoma is significantly higher than the number of affected males. Sughrue et al. confirmed this trend, stating that 70% of the cases with clearly stated gender were female (100 cases total). While several publications support a genetic predisposition to females, the underlying reasons are still unknown.

Epidemiological studies are required to determine risk factors. Aside from exposure to vinyl chloride or ionizing radiation, there are no known environmental factors associated with brain tumors. Mutations and deletions of so-called tumor suppressor genes, such as P53, are thought to be the cause of some forms of brain tumor. Inherited conditions, such as Von Hippel–Lindau disease, multiple endocrine neoplasia, and neurofibromatosis type 2 carry a high risk for the development of brain tumors. People with celiac disease have a slightly increased risk of developing brain tumors.

Although studies have not shown any link between cell phone or mobile phone radiation and the occurrence of brain tumors, the World Health Organization has classified mobile phone radiation on the IARC scale into Group 2B – possibly carcinogenic. Discounting claims that current cell phone usage may cause brain cancer, modern, third-generation (3G) phones emit, on average, about 1% of the energy emitted by the GSM (2G) phones that were in use when epidemiological studies that observed a slight increase in the risk for glioma – a malignant type of brain cancer – among heavy users of wireless and cordless telephones were conducted.

At this point, no literature has indicated whether environmental factors increase the likelihood of astroblastoma. Although cancer in general is caused by a variety of external factors, including carcinogens, dangerous chemicals, and viral infections, astroblastoma research has not even attempted to classify incidence in this regard. The next few decades will aid in this understanding.

Among people with PXA who were able to have their tumors completely resected during surgery, there is a long-term survival rate of 90%. After incomplete resection, the long-term survival rate is higher than 50%. Morbidity is determined by the type and evolution of the tumor, with high-graded anaplastic tumors causing more fatalities.

Brain, other CNS or intracranial tumors are the ninth most common cancer in the UK (around 10,600 people were diagnosed in 2013), and it is the eighth most common cause of cancer death (around 5,200 people died in 2012).

The majority of patients can be expected to be cured of their disease and become long-term survivors of central neurocytoma. As with any other type of tumor, there is a chance for recurrence. The chance of recurrence is approximately 20%. Some factors that predict tumor recurrence and death due to progressive states of disease are high proliferative indices, early disease recurrence, and disseminated disease with or without the spread of disease through the cerebral spinal fluid. Long-term follow up examinations are essential for the evaluation of the outcomes that each treatment brings about. It is also essential to identify possible recurrence of CN. It is recommended that a cranial MRI is performed between every 6–12 months.

According to a Dutch source juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma occurs at a rate of 2 in 100,000 people. Most affected are children ages 5–14 years. According to the National Cancer Institute more than 80% of astrocytomas located in the cerebellum are low grade (pilocytic grade I) and often cystic; most of the remainder are diffuse grade II astrocytomas.

Tumors of the optic pathway account for 3.6-6% of pediatric brain tumors, 60% of which are juvenile pilocytic astrocytomas. Astrocytomas account for 50% of pediatric primary central nervous system tumors. About 80-85% of cerebellar astrocytomas are juvenile pilocytic astrocytomas.

Recent genetic studies of pilocytic astrocytomas show that some sporadic cases have gain in chromosome 7q34 involving the BRAF locus.

The causes of meningiomas are not well understood. Most cases are sporadic, appearing randomly, while some are familial. Persons who have undergone radiation, especially to the scalp, are more at risk for developing meningiomas, as are those who have had a brain injury. Atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima had a higher than typical frequency of developing meningiomas, with the incidence increasing the closer that they were to the site of the explosion. Dental x-rays are correlated with an increased risk of meningioma, in particular for people who had frequent dental x-rays in the past, when the x-ray dose of a dental x-ray was higher than in the present.

Having excess body fat increases the risk.

A 2012 review found that mobile telephone use was unrelated to meningioma.

People with neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF-2) have a 50% chance of developing one or more meningiomas.

Ninety-two percent of meningiomas are benign. Eight percent are either atypical or malignant.

With treatment, pleomorphic xanthoastrocytomas are associated with a high rate of cure.

- Grade II pleomorphic xanthoastrocytomas are known to progress towards grade II tumors, which are more likely to recur after surgical removal.

- Grade III anaplastic pleomorphic xanthoastrocytomas may evolve and show signs of anaplasia, according to evidence in the medical literature.

Many individuals have meningiomas, but remain asymptomatic, so the meningiomas are discovered during an autopsy. One to two percent of all autopsies reveal meningiomas that were unknown to the individuals during their lifetime, since there were never any symptoms. In the 1970s, tumors causing symptoms were discovered in 2 out of 100,000 people, while tumors discovered without causing symptoms occurred in 5.7 out of 100,000, for a total incidence of 7.7/100,000. With the advent of modern sophisticated imaging systems such as CT scans, the discovery of asymptomatic meningiomas has tripled.

Meningiomas are more likely to appear in women than men, though when they appear in men, they are more likely to be malignant. Meningiomas may appear at any age, but most commonly are noticed in men and women age 50 or older, with meningiomas becoming more likely with age. They have been observed in all cultures, Western and Eastern, in roughly the same statistical frequency as other possible brain tumors.

Medulloblastomas affect just under two people per million per year, and affect children 10 times more than adults. Medulloblastoma is the second-most frequent brain tumor in children after pilocytic astrocytoma and the most common malignant brain tumor in children, comprising 14.5% of newly diagnosed cases. In adults, medulloblastoma is rare, comprising fewer than 2% of CNS malignancies.

The rate of new cases of childhood medulloblastoma is higher in males (62%) than females (38%), a feature which is not seen in adults. Medulloblastoma and other PNET`s are more prevalent in younger children than older children. About 40% of medulloblastoma patients are diagnosed before the age of five, 31% are between the ages of 5 and 9, 18.3% are between the ages of 10 and 14, and 12.7% are between the ages of 15 and 19.

For low-grade tumors, the prognosis is somewhat more optimistic. Patients diagnosed with a low-grade glioma are 17 times as likely to die as matched patients in the general population.

The age-standardized 10-year relative survival rate was 47%. One study reported that low-grade oligodendroglioma patients have a median survival of 11.6 years; another reported a median survival of 16.7 years.

The cumulative relative survival rate for all age groups and histology follow-up was 60%, 52%, and 47% at 5 years, 10 years, and 20 years, respectively. Patients diagnosed with a medulloblastoma or PNET are 50 times more likely to die than a matched member of the general population.

The most recent population-based (SEER) 5-year relative survival rates are 69% overall, but 72% in children (1–9 years) and 67% in adults (20+ years). The 20-year survival rate is 51% in children. Children and adults have different survival profiles, with adults faring worse than children only after the fourth year after diagnosis (after controlling for increased background mortality). Before the fourth year, survival probabilities are nearly identical. Longterm sequelae of standard treatment include hypothalamic-pituitary and thyroid dysfunction and intellectual impairment. The hormonal and intellectual deficits created by these therapies causes significant impairment of the survivors.

Gliomas are rarely curable. The prognosis for patients with high-grade gliomas is generally poor, and is especially so for older patients. Of 10,000 Americans diagnosed each year with malignant gliomas, about half are alive one year after diagnosis, and 25% after two years. Those with anaplastic astrocytoma survive about three years. Glioblastoma multiforme has a worse prognosis with less than a 12-month average survival after diagnosis, though this has extended to 14 months with more recent treatments.

The prognosis for brain metastases is variable. It depends on the type of primary cancer, the age of the patient, the absence or presence of extracranial metastases, and the number of metastatic sites in the brain. For patients who do not undergo treatment the average survival is between one and two months. However, in some patients, such as those with no extracranial metastases, those who are younger than 65, and those with a single site of metastasis in the brain only, prognosis is much better, with median survival rates of up to 13.5 months. Because brain metastasis can originate from various different primary cancers, the Karnofsky performance score is used for a more specific prognosis.

Choroid plexus tumors have an annual incidence of about 0.3 per 1 million cases.

It is seen mainly in children under the age of 5, representing 5% of all pediatric tumors and 20% of tumors in children less than 1 year old. There has been no link between sex and occurrence.

Although choroid plexus carcinomas are significantly more aggressive and have half the survival rate as choroid plexus papillomas, they are outnumbered in incidence by 5:1 in all age groups. Clinical studies have shown that patients who receive a total resection of a tumor have a 86% survival rate, while patients who only receive a partial resection have a 26% 5-year survival rate. Many incomplete resections result in recurrence within 2 years of primary surgery.

About 3 per 100,000 people develop the disease a year. It most often begins around 64 years of age and occurs more commonly in males than females. It is the second most common central nervous system cancer after meningioma.

Hemangioblastomas can cause polycythemia due to ectopic production of erythropoietin as a paraneoplastic syndrome.

There are no precise guidelines because the exact cause of astrocytoma is not known.

The cause of oligodendrogliomas is unknown. Some studies have linked oligodendroglioma with a viral cause. A 2009 Oxford Neurosymposium study illustrated a 69% correlation between NJDS gene mutation and the tumor initiation shown by Kevin Smith. A single case report has linked oligodendroglioma to irradiation of pituitary adenoma.

Fibrillary astrocytomas also called low grade or diffuse astrocytomas, are a group of primary slow growing brain tumors. They typically occur in adults between the ages of twenty and fifty.

Papillary tumors of pineal region are extremely rare, constituting 0.4-1% of all central nervous system tumors. These tumors most commonly occur in adults with the mean age being 31.5. There have been cases reported for people between the ages 5 to 66 years. There is a slight predominance of females who have these tumors.

For low grade astrocytomas, removal of the tumor will generally allow functional survival for many years. In some reports, the five-year survival has been over 90% with well resected tumors. Indeed, broad intervention of low grade conditions is a contested matter. In particular, pilocytic astrocytomas are commonly indolent bodies that may permit normal neurologic function. However, left unattended these tumors may eventually undergo neoplastic transformation. To date, complete resection of high grade astrocytomas is impossible because of the diffuse infiltration of tumor cells into normal parenchyma. Thus, high grade astrocytomas inevitably recur after initial surgery or therapy, and are usually treated similarly as the initial tumor. Despite decades of therapeutic research, curative intervention is still nonexistent for high grade astrocytomas; patient care ultimately focuses on palliative management.

The cause of choroid plexus carcinomas are relatively unknown, although hereditary factors are suspected. The sometimes occur in conjunction with other hereditary cancers, including Li–Fraumeni syndrome and malignant rhabdoid tumors. A mutation in the tumor suppressor gene TP53 is usually characterized in this disease.

Fibrillary astrocytomas arise from neoplastic astrocytes, a type of glial cell found in the central nervous system. They may occur anywhere in the brain, or even in the spinal cord, but are most commonly found in the cerebral hemispheres. As the alternative name of "diffuse astrocytoma" implies, the outline of the tumour is not clearly visible in scans, because the borders of the neoplasm tend to send out tiny microscopic fibrillary tentacles that spread into the surrounding brain tissue. These tentacles intermingle with healthy brain cells, making complete surgical removal difficult. However, they are low grade tumors, with a slow rate of growth, so that patients commonly survive longer than those with otherwise similar types of brain tumour, such as glioblastoma multiforme.