Abstract

CUEVAS-URIOSTEGUI, María Luisa; VILLASIS-KEEVER, Miguel Angel  and  FAJARDO-GUTIERREZ, Arturo. The epidemiology of cancer in adolescents. Salud pública Méx [online]. 2003, vol.45, suppl.1, pp.s115-s123. ISSN 0036-3634.

OBJECTIVE: To review the international literature on adolescent cancer epidemiology. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The Medline database was searched to obtain all papers on adolescent cancer epidemiology published during a period of 15 years (1985-1999). Time, place, and person variables were analyzed, as well as their relationships. RESULTS: Few papers on adolescent cancer epidemiology were found, likely due to the difficulty in registering cancer cases in the 12 to 18 year-old group. Either the 10-14 or the 15-19 year-old group has been analyzed in different studies; but the latter is more representative of teenagers. A higher incidence rate was found in this group (117.3 and 202.2 x 10⁶ respectively). The main malignancies in the 15-19 year-old group were central nervous system tumors (CNST), leukemias, lymphomas, bone tumors, germ-cell tumors, and carcinomas. Incidence rates were higher in males and whites; an increasing trend was observed. Cancer mortality in this group is decreasing in the United States (2.0 or 3.2% per year). Survival is increasing in all groups of neoplasms. No data were available on cancer incidence in the 15-19 year-old group in Mexico; data were available only for the 10-14 year-old group. The main neoplasms are leukemias, lymphomas, bone tumors, and CNST (rates were 41.9, 29.9, 12.0, and 10.0 x 10⁶, respectively). The mortality rate for the 1990-1994 period was 64.1 and the main neoplasms were leukemias, CNST, and lymphomas. CONCLUSIONS: More studies are needed to address the descriptive epidemiology of cancer in teenagers.

Keywords : adolescence; neoplasms; incidence; mortality.

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