Morbidity and mortality rates for childhood cancer in Argentina: 2006-2008.

INTRODUCTION Childhood cancer is a serious public health problem in any country given the large number of years of life lost in an early manner. OBJECTIVE To describe morbidity and mortality rates for cancer in Argentinean children and adolescents younger than 15 years old in the 2006-2008 three year period. Method. Specific mortality rates and incidence rates per million inhabitants were analyzed in children and adolescents younger than 15 years old by type of tumor and gender. Vital statistics data were used based on the databases provided by the Statistics and Health Information Department of the Ministry of Health of Argentina and the population of 0-14 year old children estimated by the National Statistics and Censuses Institute of Argentina (Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas y Censos, INDEC). In relation to morbidity data, the information published by the Argentine Hospital Oncopediatric Registry (Registro Oncopediátrico Hospitalario Argentino, ROHA) was used. RESULTS Mortality rate from malignancies was 43.8 per million (3.5% of total deaths in this age group) and the incidence rate was 123.7 per million. Leukemia had the highest specific mortality rate (14.9 per million), followed by tumors in the central nervous system (12.7 per million). The highest incidence rates were also registered for these tumors (45.2 and 15.5 per million, respectively). CONCLUSIONS Mortality from malignancies accounted for 3.5% of deaths in children and adolescents younger than 15 years old in Argentina. Leukemia and tumors in the central nervous system had the highest specific mortality and incidence rates.