The Cancer in Young People in Canada surveillance system.

Le résumé fourni par la source

Although childhood cancer remains the leading cause of disease-related deaths among children younger than 14 years of age, it is relatively rare.1,2 Each year, an average of 910 children are diagnosed with cancer in Canada, and 139 children die of the disease.3 Cancers in children differ biologically from those usually found in adults.4,5 The majority of cancers in adults are carcinomas of the epithelial tissues that line organs such as the breast, lung, colon and prostate. In children, carcinomas are rare and childhood tumours are more likely to be embryonic or hematopoietic in origin.5 Leukemias, lymphomas and central nervous system cancers represent the largest diagnostic groups.5 Compared to cancers in adults, cancers in children have shorter latency periods and are generally more aggressive, invasive and advanced at diagnosis.5 Despite the high ranking of cancer as a cause of death in children, survival rates have improved substantially over the last two decades so that more children survive cancer than ever before.6 However, over 60% of childhood cancer survivors face long-term physical and mental side-effects from the disease and its treatment, and nearly 30% have severe or life-threatening late effects.7 Survivors of childhood cancer have an 11-fold increased risk of death, an increased risk of second cancers up to 30 years after treatment and a wide variety of chronic physical, psychosocial and cognitive problems.8 The recognition of the unique nature of cancers in this age group and extensive long-term late effects has led many countries to establish specialized pediatric cancer surveillance and follow-up systems.8,9–11,13 In 2009, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) launched a pan-Canadian specialized childhood cancer surveillance system that actively follows children aged up to 14 years treated at one of the 17 pediatric oncology centres across the country (Table 1). The Cancer in Young People in Canada (CYP-C) program is a renewal of the federal government’s Canadian Childhood Cancer Surveillance and Control program (CCCSCP). Established under the Brighter Futures Initiative in 1992, the program includes comprehensive data on a child’s cancer diagnosis, treatments, outcomes and health care utilization.12,13 TABLE 1 Pediatric oncology centres participating in the Cancer in Young People in Canada surveillance system In this article, we describe the strengths and successes of CYP-C by highlighting rigour in data collection and quality control methodology as well as recent achievements and future directions.

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.