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Improving survival for childhood cancer in Slovakia
Author(s) -
Kramárová Eva,
Plesko Ivan,
Black Roger J.,
Obsitníková Adriana
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0215(19960301)65:5<594::aid-ijc7>3.0.co;2-y
Subject(s) - medicine , cancer registry , cancer , childhood cancer , survival rate , overall survival , relative survival , wilms' tumor , pediatrics , el niño , demography , sociology
Data from the National Cancer Registry of Slovakia were used to evaluate survival for 2,958 childhood cancer patients registered between 1968 and 1987 and aged 0–14 years at diagnosis. Actuarial survival rates were computed for children diagnosed in 4 successive 5‐year periods and compared. Overall 5‐year survival rose from 20% for the period 1968–1972 to 46% for the period 1983–1987. The increase was statistically significant in age groups 1–4, 5–9 and 10–14 years. Survival for children aged less than 1 year also increased slightly, but this was not statistically significant. In most of the major diagnostic groups, survival increased markedly. Five‐year survival rose significantly for leukaemias, lymphomas, CNS neoplasms, Wilms' tumours, bone tumours, soft‐tissue sarcomas and germ‐cell tumours. Despite this progress, survival in Slovakia remains lower than the corresponding figures from registries in Western Europe and the United States. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.