Background:
Childhood cancer is a rare disease. Each year nearly 100,000 children younger than 15 years of age die from cancer; the majority of them residing in developing countries with low resources
Aim:
This study aims to describe the patterns of childhood cancers in Saudi Arabia over a period of ten years (1999-2008)
Methods:
This is a descriptive retrospective study based on secondary data from the Saudi Cancer Registry from 1999 to 2008. All Saudi cases (males and females), under the age of 15 years, who were diagnosed with cancer during the study period, were included in this study
Results:
Childhood cancer in Saudi Arabia, in the period between 1999 and 2008, accounted for about 8% of total cancer cases. The most common encountered cancers were leukemia (34.1%), followed by lymphoma (15.2%), brain (12.4%), and kidney cancers (5.3%). Leukemia rates were found to be similar in both genders. Lymphoma and brain cancer rates were higher among males. Kidney cancer rates were higher among females. The overall incidence of childhood cancers increased from 8.8 per 100,000 in 1999 to 9.8 per 100,000 in 2008. The incidence rates of cancers per 100,000 in the years 1999 and 2008 were generally higher among males, (9.4 and 11.5 in males vs. 8.3 and 8.1 in females). The highest incidence rate, in the surveyed years, was apparent in the birth to age 4 group
Conclusions:
Cancer is an important public health problem in Saudi Arabia and a major ascending contributor to mortality and morbidity in children. More studies are required to describe the patterns of childhood cancers, related etiology, and risk factors in Saudi Arabia