About Cancer in Children
Childhood cancer constitutes 3 to 4 % of all cancers. Every year 4 lakh children all over the world get diagnosed with cancer, out of which India has an estimated 76805 cases of new childhood cancer cases detected every year. Unlike adult cancers, the causes of most childhood cancers are as yet unknown but in developed countries more than 80% of childhood cancer is curable because of better response to the treatment and protocols. Despite these high cure rates in developed countries, it is estimated that in India, less than 30% of children get cured largely due to lack of awareness, late detection and late diagnosis, inadequate facilities, the high cost of treatment and the absence of supportive care.
As kids with Cancer, when treated timely, go on to lead normal healthy lives, Amogh foundation endeavours to spread awareness about cancer, provide training and development to medical professionals at primary and secondary care centres and provide financial support for treatment of cancer to under privileged children.
In India Leukaemia accounted for nearly half of all the childhood cancers in both genders in the 0-14 year’s age group (46.4% in boys and 44.3% in girls). The other common childhood cancer in boys was lymphoma (16.4%), while in girls, it was a malignant bone tumour (8.9%).
Childhood cancers are presented for two age groups: 0-14 years and 0-19 years:
Table 1: Relative proportion (%) of childhood cancers (0-14 years) relative to all cancers
Sex | Childhood Cancer (%) (upto 14 yrs) |
Boys | 4.9% |
Girls | 3.0% |
Overall | 4% |
Table 2: Relative proportion (%) of childhood cancers (0-19 years) relative to all cancers
Sex | Childhood Cancer (%) (up to 19 yrs) |
Boys | 6.8% |
Girls | 4.1% |
Overall | 5.5% |
Table 3: Proportion (%) of childhood cancers according to five-year age groups
Sex | Boys | Girls |
00-04 | 24.1% | 27.0% |
05-09 | 23.9% | 22.0% |
10-14 | 23.2% | 23.6% |
15-19 | 28.8% | 27.4% |
Table 4: Proportion (%) of Specific types of cancers in childhood (0-19 years)
Types of Cancer | Boys | Girls |
Leukaemia | 44.0% | 39.7% |
Lymphoma and Reticuloendothelial Neop. | 16.8% | 9.3% |
Malignant Bone Tumours | 10.9% | 11.5% |
Soft Tissues- Sarcomas | 6.1% | 7.4% |
CNS and Misc. Intracranial and Intraspinal Neop. | 5.7% | 6.5% |
Carcenoma and other malignant Epithelial Neop. | 4.9% | 8.2% |
Germ-Cell Trophoblastic & Other Gonadal Neop. | 1.9% | 5.3% |
Others | 9.7% | 12.1% |