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[The epidemiology of Cancer among adolescents]
María Luisa Cuevas-Urióstegui1, Miguel Angel Villasís-Keever, Arturo Fajardo-Gutiérrez
1Unidad de Investigación Médica en Epidemiología Clínica, Hospital de Pediatria, Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, IMSS. Av. Cuauhtémoc 330, colonia Doctores, 06720 México, D.F., México.
Objective:
To review the international literature on adolescent cancer epidemiology.
Material And Methods:
The Medline database was searched to obtain all papers on adolescent cancer epidemiology published during a period of 15 years (1985-1999). Time, place, and person variables were analyzed, as well as their relationships.
Results:
Few papers on adolescent cancer epidemiology were found, likely due to the difficulty in registering cancer cases in the 12 to 18 year-old group. Either the 10-14 or the 15-19 year-old group has been analyzed in different studies; but the latter is more representative of teenagers. A higher incidence rate was found in this group (117.3 and 202.2 x 10(6) respectively). The main malignancies in the 15-19 year-old group were central nervous system tumors (CNST), leukemias, lymphomas, bone tumors, germ-cell tumors, and carcinomas. Incidence rates were higher in males and whites; an increasing trend was observed. Cancer mortality in this group is decreasing in the United States (2.0 or 3.2% per year). Survival is increasing in all groups of neoplasms. No data were available on cancer incidence in the 15-19 year-old group in Mexico: data were available only for the 10-14 year-old group. The main neoplasms are leukemias, lymphomas, bone tumors, and CNST (rates were 41.9, 29.9, 12.0, and 10.0 x 10(6), respectively). The mortality rate for the 1990-1994 period was 64.1 and the main neoplasms were leukemias, CNST, and lymphomas.
Conclusions:
More studies are needed to address the descriptive epidemiology of cancer in teenagers.