| ©2007 All rights reserved Let Hope Live. Site designed by Mercy-Designs |
| Childhood Cancer Statistics |
Cancer is the leading cause of disease-related deaths in children under the age of 20. Every
year, about 12,400 children and teens under the age of 20 are diagnosed with cancer, and
approximately 2,300 children die.
Survival rates for childhood cancer have risen sharply over the past 20 years. In the
United States, more than 75 percent of children with cancer are now alive five years after
diagnosis, compared with about 60 percent in the mid-1970s. Much of this dramatic
improvement is due to the development of improved therapies at children's cancer centers,
where the majority of children with cancer have their treatment.
However, there are a number of childhood cancer-related statistics that are troubling.
These statistics include:
Brain cancers and other tumors in children’s nervous systems rose by more than 25%
between 1973 and 1996.
Over the past 20 years, there has been some increase in the incidence of children diagnosed
with all forms of invasive cancer; from 11.4 cases per 100,000 children in 1975 to 15.2 per
100,000 children in 1998
Leukemia, which is the most common childhood cancer, increased by more than15% over the
past 20 years. Most of the increase in leukemia rates in the past 20 years has been in a
kind of cancer called acute lymphoblastic leukemia or ALL.
A recent study in the American Journal of Public Health reported an association between
household chemicals and ALL. In the study, the researchers from the National Cancer
Institute (NCI) and the University of Minnesota found children were more likely to develop
ALL if they lived in households where family hobbies involved the use of solvents (such as
refinishing furniture, or building models). They were also more likely to develop ALL if more
than 4 rooms in the house had been painted while their mothers were pregnant. According to
the Children’s Cancer Group Epidemiology Program, a network of pediatric epidemiologists,
children are 5 to 6 times more likely to develop leukemia and brain cancer if their families
use pesticides at home.
*Information compiled from both Cancer.gov, the Web site of the National Cancer
Institute, and cancer.org, the Web site of the American Cancer Society.
year, about 12,400 children and teens under the age of 20 are diagnosed with cancer, and
approximately 2,300 children die.
Survival rates for childhood cancer have risen sharply over the past 20 years. In the
United States, more than 75 percent of children with cancer are now alive five years after
diagnosis, compared with about 60 percent in the mid-1970s. Much of this dramatic
improvement is due to the development of improved therapies at children's cancer centers,
where the majority of children with cancer have their treatment.
However, there are a number of childhood cancer-related statistics that are troubling.
These statistics include:
Brain cancers and other tumors in children’s nervous systems rose by more than 25%
between 1973 and 1996.
Over the past 20 years, there has been some increase in the incidence of children diagnosed
with all forms of invasive cancer; from 11.4 cases per 100,000 children in 1975 to 15.2 per
100,000 children in 1998
Leukemia, which is the most common childhood cancer, increased by more than15% over the
past 20 years. Most of the increase in leukemia rates in the past 20 years has been in a
kind of cancer called acute lymphoblastic leukemia or ALL.
A recent study in the American Journal of Public Health reported an association between
household chemicals and ALL. In the study, the researchers from the National Cancer
Institute (NCI) and the University of Minnesota found children were more likely to develop
ALL if they lived in households where family hobbies involved the use of solvents (such as
refinishing furniture, or building models). They were also more likely to develop ALL if more
than 4 rooms in the house had been painted while their mothers were pregnant. According to
the Children’s Cancer Group Epidemiology Program, a network of pediatric epidemiologists,
children are 5 to 6 times more likely to develop leukemia and brain cancer if their families
use pesticides at home.
*Information compiled from both Cancer.gov, the Web site of the National Cancer
Institute, and cancer.org, the Web site of the American Cancer Society.