Abstract 1194: U.S. childhood and adolescent cancer survival between 1992 and 2013: An analysis of population-based data
Authors: Wang Xiaoyan , Johnson Kimberly J. 
Published: August 2018

Background

Monitoring cancer survival over time and across different demographic groups is an important part of cancer control. In the current study, our objective was to examine U.S. cancer survival patterns in childhood and adolescent cancer patients between different time periods and demographic groups.

Methods

Survival data for primary cancers diagnosed in individuals ≤ 19 years from 1992 to 2014 were obtained from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results 13 database. Five-year relative survival rates were estimated according to the cohort method using SEER*Stat software. Survival differences were examined for subgroups defined by diagnosis time period (1992-1994, 1995-1999, 2000-2004, 2005-2009), sex (male and female), age at diagnosis (&lt;1, 1-4, 5-9, 10-14, 15-19 years) and race/ethnicity (Non-Hispanic White, Non-Hispanic-Black, Hispanic, and Non-Hispanic Other). The annual percent change (APC) in 5-year relative survival was estimated using Joinpoint software. Finally, period survival analysis was also conducted using SEER*Stat software to provide the most up-to-date five-year relative survival predictions using data from cases diagnosed between 2007 and 2013.

Results

Five-year relative survival increased significantly for cancers overall (75.9% vs. 82.9 for 1992-1994 and 2005-2009 respectively, p&lt;0.001) and for half of the cancer subtypes. The largest improvements were observed for leukemias, myeloproliferative and myelodysplastic disease (+ 11.6%, p&lt;0.001) and lymphomas and reticuloendothelial neoplasms (+5.8%, p&lt;0.001). Significant improvement in relative survival over time was also observed for both sexes with APCs of 0.67 (males) and 0.51 (females), across all age groups with APCs of 0.68 (infants), 0.63 (1-4 years), 0.68 (10-14 years) and 0.65 (15-19 years) except 5-9 years (APC: 0.32), and all racial/ethnic groups with APCs of 0.61 (non-Hispanic White), 0.64 (Non-Hispanic Black), 0.51 (Hispanic), and 0.75 (Non-Hispanic Other). No statistically significant differences in the APCs were observed between sex, age, and race/ethnicity subgroups. However, survival disparities were apparent across age and race/ethnicity subgroups in period analyses, with infant and Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic Other cases having lower survival rates than older and non-Hispanic White cases (infant: 77.2% vs 1-4 years: 85.5%, 5-9 years: 84.1%, 10-14 years: 84.2% and 15-19 years: 84.0%; Non-Hispanic Black: 81.6%, Non-Hispanic Other: 81.2%, and Hispanic: 79.8% vs. Non-Hispanic White: 87.5%).

Conclusion

Our results indicate that childhood and adolescent cancer survival continues to improve for all demographic groups. However, persistent inferior survival rates in infants and in minority race/ethnicity groups reinforces the need for continued research that aims to eliminate childhood and adolescent cancer survival inequities.

Citation Format: Xiaoyan Wang, Kimberly J. Johnson. U.S. childhood and adolescent cancer survival between 1992 and 2013: An analysis of population-based data [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 1194.