Pediatric Oncology

 

What Every Person Should Know About Pediatric Oncology


  • Nearly 30% of the US population is less than 20 yrs.
  • As a whole, pediatric cancer is relatively uncommon, affecting approximately 1-2 in every 10,000 children each year in the United States. That means there are a few cases in almost every school district.
  • The risk of any single individual developing cancer by age 20 is approximately one in 330.
  • In the United States, approximately 10,500 children under age 15 and 3,700 adolescents ages 15-19 are newly diagnosed with cancer each year.  That is roughly the equivalent of two average size classrooms (35-46 kids) diagnosed each school day.
  • For children between 1-19 yrs, cancer is the fourth leading cause of death overall, and the leading cause of disease related death. It remains responsible for more deaths from ages 1-19 than asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis and AIDS combined.

•    Another rough estimate would be that 150,000 potential life years are lost annually to childhood cancer.

  • Leukemia, tumors of the brain and nervous system, the lymphatic system, kidneys, bones and muscles are the most common childhood cancers.
  • Over the period from 1975-1995 the incidence of pediatric cancer increased by approximately 12% but mostly due to improved detection.  The rate of most childhood cancers has been stable although the incidence of melanoma in children is increasing by 1.5-3% per year.
  • Mortality from pediatric cancer has been steadily decreasing (due to improved supportive care and clinical trials). In December 2007, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported a 20 percent decline in the pediatric cancer death rate between 1990 and 2004.
  • The overall survival from pediatric cancer is estimated to be 75%-80%, and the majority of these are considered “cured” (In the early 1950s less than 10 percent, and before the 1970s less than 50% of children with cancer could be cured).
  • In 2008, 10,730 children under the age of 15 are anticipated to be newly diagnosed with cancer. It is expected that 80% of these children will survive 5 years or more.  Nonetheless about 1,490 children will die from cancer this year.
  • We are continuing to see late deaths of children presumed “cured” due to late relapses, toxicity and secondary malignancy.
  • Combined, the cancers of children, adolescents and young adults to age 20 are the sixth most common cancer in the U.S.
  • In is estimated that about 1 in every 450 adults is a childhood cancer survivor.
  • For every six research dollars per patient with AIDS and every one research dollar per patient with breast cancer, a child with cancer receives 30 cents.

References:
CureSearch Website:
CureSearch represents the combined efforts of the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) and the National Childhood Cancer Foundation (NCCF)
www.curesearch.org/aboutcc
The National Cancer Institute: http://seer.cancer.gov/publications/childhood