Profile of Paediatric Malignancies in Yangon Children Hospital: A Three Year Study

Abstract

Abstract 13 Although paediatric malignancy is one of the major health threats worldwide and its incidence is on rise, little is known about its epidemiology. In Myanmar also, reports on the pattern of childhood cancer are very few. Reliable paediatric cancer data are essential for assessing the magnitude of this problem and for qualified paediatric cancer care. This study aimed to describe the relative frequencies of various paediatric malignancies in Yangon Children Hospital (YCH) according to age and sex. This hospital based retrospective study covered all children aged 0 to 14 years with confirmed malignancies using 3 years hospital records of Haematology-Oncology Unit, from January 2012 to December 2014. Total 609 patients were diagnosed as cancer during study period. Among them, 379 cases (62.2%) were haematological malignancies and 230 cases (37.8%) were solid tumours. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (27.5%), Acute myeloblastic leukemia (14.3%), Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (14%) and Retinoblastoma (9.7%) were four most common childhood malignancies. Wilm's tumour (6.8%), Neuroblastoma (6.7%), Germ cell tumour (4.1%) and Rhabdomyosarcoma (3.6%) were also common. Less common were brain tumours (2.1%), Hodgkin's lymphoma (1.5%) and Burkitt's lymphoma (1.0%). Prevalence was higher in boys (58.6%) than girls (41.4%) with male to female ratio 1.5:1. About half (50.9%) of the patients were younger than 5 years and prevalence was less in more than 10 years age group (15.7%). As the data were collected from hospital, findings from this study might not be the representation of our national statistics. But as Haematology-Oncology unit, YCH is one of the two paediatric oncology centers in Myanmar and patients from most regions attend this hospital for specialist care, these findings could reflect the burden of paediatric malignancy in our country. AUTHORS' DISCLOSURES OF POTENTIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: No COIs from the authors.