Incidence of retinoblastoma in the United States

Data from the population-based Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program of the National Cancer Institute were used to calculate the incidence of retinoblastoma for the years 1974 through 1976. Each year 3.58 cases occurred for each million children under the age of 15 years. Incidence was markedly age related, with over 90% of the cases being diagnosed before the age of 5 years. Although no difference in incidence was found for whites and blacks, other nonwhites had rates greater than four times those of whites. Twenty percent of patients had bilateral disease. Treatment patterns revealed that surgery remains the most common treatment modality. Review of patterns of survival suggested that children in the other nonwhites category with unilateral disease had poorest survival rates.