Denisa Krejci1, Michaela Zapletalova2, Ivana Svobodova3, Viera Bajciova4, Peter Mudry4, Vratislav Smelhaus5, Jaroslav Sterba4, Jan Stary5, Riccardo Capocaccia6, Ladislav Dusek3. 1. Institute of Biostatistics and Analyses, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Kamenice 126/3, 62500, Brno, Czech Republic; Institute of Health Information and Statistics of the Czech Republic, Palackeho namesti 4, 12801, Prague 2, Czech Republic. Electronic address: krejcid@iba.muni.cz. 2. Institute of Health Information and Statistics of the Czech Republic, Palackeho namesti 4, 12801, Prague 2, Czech Republic. 3. Institute of Biostatistics and Analyses, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Kamenice 126/3, 62500, Brno, Czech Republic; Institute of Health Information and Statistics of the Czech Republic, Palackeho namesti 4, 12801, Prague 2, Czech Republic. 4. Department of Paediatric Oncology, University Hospital Brno and Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Cernopolni 9, 62500, Brno, Czech Republic. 5. Department of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology, 2nd Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and University Hospital in Motol, V Uvalu 84, 15006, Prague 5, Czech Republic. 6. Cancer Epidemiology Unit, National Center of Epidemiology, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161, Rome, Italy.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The knowledge of cancer burden in the population, its time trends and the possibility of international comparison is an important starting point for cancer control programmes. Our study aimed to evaluate trends in childhood cancer epidemiology of patients aged 0-14 years in the period 1994-2016 in the Czech Republic. METHODS: Data on childhood cancers have been obtained from the Czech National Cancer Registry. These data were validated using the clinical database of childhood cancer patients and combined with data from death certificates. Incidence and mortality trends were assessed by the joinpoint regression method. The life tables method was used to calculate the overall age-standardised five-year survival. RESULTS: The incidence trend was stable; the age-standardised (world) cancer incidence - ASR (W) - was 173.7 per 1 million children in the period 1994-2016. However, there was apparent significant decrease in mortality: ASR (W) dropped from 58.1 per 1 million children in 1994 to 21.4 per 1 million children in 2016. The overall five-year survival increased over time by 10 %. Statistically significant improvements in survival were observed in patients with lymphoid leukaemia, astrocytomas, neuroblastomas, osteosarcomas and rhabdomyosarcomas. CONCLUSION: Such a relevant increase in survival rates, and therefore also a decrease in mortality rates in the Czech Republic, is most likely due to improvements in diagnostic and treatment methods since the 1990s, which were facilitated by the concentration of childhood cancer patients in children's cancer centres.
BACKGROUND: The knowledge of cancer burden in the population, its time trends and the possibility of international comparison is an important starting point for cancer control programmes. Our study aimed to evaluate trends in childhood cancer epidemiology of patients aged 0-14 years in the period 1994-2016 in the Czech Republic. METHODS: Data on childhood cancers have been obtained from the Czech National Cancer Registry. These data were validated using the clinical database of childhood cancerpatients and combined with data from death certificates. Incidence and mortality trends were assessed by the joinpoint regression method. The life tables method was used to calculate the overall age-standardised five-year survival. RESULTS: The incidence trend was stable; the age-standardised (world) cancer incidence - ASR (W) - was 173.7 per 1 million children in the period 1994-2016. However, there was apparent significant decrease in mortality: ASR (W) dropped from 58.1 per 1 million children in 1994 to 21.4 per 1 million children in 2016. The overall five-year survival increased over time by 10 %. Statistically significant improvements in survival were observed in patients with lymphoid leukaemia, astrocytomas, neuroblastomas, osteosarcomas and rhabdomyosarcomas. CONCLUSION: Such a relevant increase in survival rates, and therefore also a decrease in mortality rates in the Czech Republic, is most likely due to improvements in diagnostic and treatment methods since the 1990s, which were facilitated by the concentration of childhood cancerpatients in children's cancer centres.
Authors: Janet Flores-Lujano; David Aldebarán Duarte-Rodríguez; Elva Jiménez-Hernández; Jorge Alfonso Martín-Trejo; Aldo Allende-López; José Gabriel Peñaloza-González; María Luisa Pérez-Saldivar; Aurora Medina-Sanson; José Refugio Torres-Nava; Karina Anastacia Solís-Labastida; Luz Victoria Flores-Villegas; Rosa Martha Espinosa-Elizondo; Raquel Amador-Sánchez; Martha Margarita Velázquez-Aviña; Laura Elizabeth Merino-Pasaye; Nora Nancy Núñez-Villegas; Ana Itamar González-Ávila; María de Los Ángeles Del Campo-Martínez; Martha Alvarado-Ibarra; Vilma Carolina Bekker-Méndez; Rocío Cárdenas-Cardos; Silvia Jiménez-Morales; Roberto Rivera-Luna; Haydee Rosas-Vargas; Norma C López-Santiago; Angélica Rangel-López; Alfredo Hidalgo-Miranda; Elizabeth Vega; Minerva Mata-Rocha; Omar Alejandro Sepúlveda-Robles; José Arellano-Galindo; Juan Carlos Núñez-Enríquez; Juan Manuel Mejía-Aranguré Journal: Front Public Health Date: 2022-09-14