Infant Cancer in Taiwan: Incidence and Trends (1995-2009)

Current information about cancer incidence patterns among infants in East Asia is rare. The objective of this study was to report the first population-based cancer surveillance of infants in Taiwan.

Cancer frequencies and incidence rates among subjects aged <1 year for the period 1995-2009 were obtained from the Taiwan Cancer Registry. Types of cancers were grouped according to the International Classification of Childhood Cancer. Rates and trends were analyzed by sex and disease groups and further compared with that of other countries.

A total of 900 infants were diagnosed with cancers, giving an incidence rate of 250.7 per million person-years from 1995 to 2009. The male-to-female incidence rate ratio was 1.22. Overall, leukemias (56.3 per million) were the most common cancer, followed by germ cell neoplasms (43.2) and neuroblastomas (41.8). The incidence increased by 2.5% annually during the 15-year study period and was predominantly contributed by male infants (3.5%). Compared with other countries, the rate of hepatoblastoma in Taiwan was second to that from Beijing (China) and 2 to 5 times greater compared with the US, France, the North of England and Osaka (Japan). The rates of germ cell neoplasms were 2 to 4 times greater in Taiwan.

The current data suggests that cancer incidence rate among male infants was rising in Taiwan. The factors associated with higher rates of hepatoblastoma and germ cell neoplasms warrant further investigation on similar ethnic groups of different areas to elucidate the potential environmental impacts while controlling for race.