Impact of gender on the natural history of neuroblastoma

To study of the possible impact of gender on the natural history of neuroblastoma, the medical records of 136 consecutive children with that diagnosis treated at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh from 1975 to 1992 were reviewed. An attempt was made to investigate the association between sex and age at diagnosis, primary tumor site, stage, and histology. Although overall male:female ratio was only 1.3:1, in the group of 17 patients who were older than six years at diagnosis the incidence was 2.0:1. Primary tumor site also could be stratified on the basis of sex, with twofold more adrenal tumors occurring in boys than in girls (P = 0.012). Based on retrospective data, there was no clear association between sex and stage or extent of histologic differentiation. Because these observations cannot readily be explained on the basis of male predominance in the population at large or on uneven referral patterns, they deserve further examination in larger series, such as those of cooperative groups.