Socio-demographic characteristics of children and young people with primary brain tumours: comparison between a public and private sector tertiary hospital in Karachi, Pakistan Authors Faiza Urooj Department of Surgery, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan Nida Zahid Department of Surgery, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan Nick Brown Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University, Sweden Russell Seth Martins Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan Thomas Martensson Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University, Sweden Andreas Martensson Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University, Sweden Syed Ather Enam Department of Surgery, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan DOI: https://doi.org/10.47391/JPMA.8502 Keywords: Paediatric brain tumour, Private sector, Public sector, Socio-demographics, Socio-economic Abstract Primary brain tumours (PBTs) are the commonest solid tumours in children and young people (CYP). A study was conducted at a private and a public sector hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, to determine the socio-demographic and tumour-related characteristics of CYP with PBTs between those presenting to the public and private hospitals. A total of 49 patients were included. The commonest PBT was pilocytic astrocytoma (29%). There were no differences in tumour-related characteristics between the two groups. However, parents of CYP with PBTs presenting to the public sector hospital were significantly less educated and had lower household incomes. No significant differences in age, gender, educational status, and ethnicity of CYP with PBTs were observed. Since CYP with PBTs presenting at the public sector hospital were from significantly lower socio-economic backgrounds and their parents were less educated, it suggests socio-economic disparities in PBT care for CYPs in Karachi, Pakistan. Downloads Full Text Article Published 2024-01-20 How to Cite Urooj, F., Nida Zahid, Brown, N., Martins, R. S., Martensson, T., Martensson, A., & Enam, S. A. (2024). Socio-demographic characteristics of children and young people with primary brain tumours: comparison between a public and private sector tertiary hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association, 74(2), 366–369. https://doi.org/10.47391/JPMA.8502 More Citation Formats ACM ACS APA ABNT Chicago Harvard IEEE MLA Turabian Vancouver Download Citation Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS) BibTeX Issue Vol. 74 No. 2 (2024): FEBRUARY Section SHORT COMMUNICATION License Copyright (c) 2024 Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.