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Lyon (pte024/10.12.2004/12:30) - Childhood cancer rates have slowly increased over the last 30 years, according to research. The International Agency for Research on Cancer http://www.iarc.fr in France examined data from 19 European countries. As the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk reports, the researchers found that between the 1970s and 1990s, cancer rates increased by around one per cent a year for children, and 1.5 per cent for adolescents.
The scientists analysed 113,000 cancers in children, and over 18,000 cancers in adolescents during the three decades. By the 1990s, the incidence rate was 140 per million for children and 157 per million for adolescents. According to the scientists, there is no single factor for the rise, and the underlying causes are likely o be highly complex. However, exposure to infections and changes in birth weight could could play a role, as well as mixing populations. The increase could also be explained by better diagnosis of the disease and better record keeping.
Although the increases were recorded for virtually all tumour types in children, there were some tumours in adolescents that saw major changes: Carcinomas that develop in tissues covering or lining organs of the body, such as the skin, uterus, lung or breast; lymphomas that develop in the lymphatic system, such as Hodgkins disease; soft tissue sarcomas that begin in the muscle, fat, fibrous tissue, blood vessels or other supporting tissue of the body, germ-cell cancers that develop in the testicles or ovaries, and tumours of the central nervous system.
Over the three decades, the studied survival rates increased significantly. They reached a five-year survival rate of 75 per cent for children in western Europe and 64 per cent in eastern Europe. According to John Toy, medical director at the British charity Cancer Research UK, childhood cancer is still uncommon. "While it is good news that survival is dramatically improving, the increase in incidence rates reported n this study are a cause for concern," he said. "It is important that researchers investigate reasons for some possible causes in order to develop future prevention strategies."
According to Catherine Cole of the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children in Perth, Australia, most children with cancer live in developing countres. Although 80 per cent of children survive in the west, most in developing countries die from lack of medical care. "The challenge now is to ensure equity of access to cancer care for children," said Cole. "Centres of excellence should be developed in low-income countries to train staff," she added.
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