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Abstract
Objectives: describe the incidence and survival of children and adolescents with cancer in Uruguay and analyze their evolution by comparing the periods 1992-1994 and 2008-2012.
Materials and methods: descriptive and observational study. We included all patients between 0 and 14 years of age diagnosed with cancer in Uruguay during 2008-2012. Data source: Pereira Rossell Children’s Hospital Records of the Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Department. The diagnoses were grouped according to the Third Edition of the Childhood Cancer’s International Classification. Data regarding population size and distribution by age was obtained from national census records and from international organizations. We determined incidence and survival. Follow-up of survivors was established for a minimum of 6 years to ensure an accurate estimate of survival.
Results: we included five hundred and four (504) patients between 0 and 14 years of age. The incidence rate for all cancers was 134.6 cases per million per year, 147.6 and 120.7 for boys and girls, respectively. The highest incidence was leukemia (group I) (40.6), tumors of the central nervous system (group III) (28.0) and lymphomas (group II) (17.6). The 5-year survival rate improved significantly for all cancers from 54.7% (1992-1994) to 70.6% (2008-2012) (males 49.2% to 69.6%; girls 58.9% to 72.3%).
Conclusions: this study provides reliable information on the incidence and survival of cancer in Uruguay in patients under 15 years of age. The results found demonstrate changes in the distribution of the population of Uruguay, a stable cancer incidence rate in the age group analyzed and significant progress in survival compared to the study carried out 20 years ago, but confirm that Uruguay has challenges ahead in order to achieve cancer cure rates similar to those of Western European and North American countries.