Infant cancers in France: Incidence and survival (2000–2014)

Abstract

BackgroundOn average 185 children are diagnosed each year in France with a cancer in their first year of life, representing 11 % of cancers diagnosed in children less than 15 years. MethodsA retrospective population-based observational study was conducted between 2000 and 2014 of all infants with a diagnosis of cancer using the National Registry of Childhood Cancers Database. ResultsOut of 2760 cases of primary cancers in infancy, there were mainly neuroblastomas 30.1 %), central nervous system (CNS) tumors (16.1 %), leukemias (15.3 %), retinoblastomas (11.6 %), and Wilms tumors (6.9 %). Embryonal malignancies accounted for 55.2 % of cases. Most diagnoses showed a male excess, particularly for malignant gonadal germ-cell tumors (GCT) with a 17.5 sex-ratio. The annual incidence rate, 242.9 per million infants overall, was stable over the study period for all types of cancer. Most deaths occurred within the first month of life (70.8 % of deaths). The 5-year overall survival (5-y OS) was 81.0 % (95 %CI, 79.4–82.4) with large contrasts between diagnoses. The best 5-y OS (>85 %) were observed for retinoblastomas, carcinomas, nephroblastomas, GCT, neuroblastomas, and hepatoblastomas. Conversely, the lowest 5-y OS (<65 %) were observed for acute myeloid leukemias, CNS tumors, and lymphoid leukemias. We observed no substantial change over time (80.5 % [95 %CI, 77.7–82.9] in 2000–2004 and 82.6 % [95 %CI, 80.0–84.9] in 2010–2014) for all cancers combined. The same result has been found whatever the diagnostic group. ConclusionOur results contribute to better understand these tumors by quantifying their impact on the French population and assessing the burden of some devastating infant cancers.