Increasing childhood cancer incidence in Poland in 1996-2020

Abstract

Background: The increasing number of patients and better outcomes indicate the need for studying long-term time-trends of childhood cancer incidence in Poland. The aim of the study was to analyse childhood cancer incidence by sex, age and site group in Poland over 25 years between 1996 and 2020.

Methods: Data for the analysis of childhood cancer incidence were obtained from the Polish Childhood Cancer Clinical Database. The analysis of childhood cancer incidence was carried out based on the age standardized incidence rate (ASR). The ASR coefficient values were determined for five-year periods: 1996-2000, 2001-2005, 2006-2010, 2010-2015, 2016-2020.

Results: In the years 1996-2020, a total of 26863 new cases of cancer were registered among children and adolescents up to 17 years of age of which 21904 cases were recorded in children up to the age of 14. The most frequently diagnosed cancers were leukaemia (27·5 %), CNS tumours (19·9 %), and lymphomas (13·75 %). In most groups of cancers the disease was diagnosed more frequently in boys than in girls. The standardized incidence rate of cancers (ASR) for children up to 14 years of age in the corresponding periods was: 128·7, 148·0, 148·8, 158·7, and 167·9.

Interpretation: In Poland, despite fluctuations between subsequent years in the period 1996-2020, the number of new cancer cases among children up to 17 years of age was at a similar level. At the same time, the number of children aged 0-17 years in Poland in that period decreased from 10'531'160-7'672'644. Overall, we can observe an increase in the incidence of childhood cancer in Poland between 1996 and 2020 based on ASR by 23·3 %.

Keywords: Adolescence cancer; Childhood cancer; Incidence rate.