While the number of new cancer cases in children and adolescents is relatively low at around 416,500 globally in 2017, treatment-related ill-health and disability and fatal cancer are estimated to cause around 11.5 million years of healthy life lost globally every year, according to the first Global Burden of Disease Study to assess childhood and adolescent cancer burden in 195 countries in 2017, published in The Lancet Oncology journal.
"By assessing the global burden of childhood cancer through the lens of disability-adjusted life-years, we can more comprehensively understand the devastating impact of cancer on children globally,” says Dr Lisa Force from St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the USA, who led the research in collaboration with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
The study reveals striking inequities in childhood cancer burden between high and low SDI countries . High and high-middle SDI countries accounted for about 35% of new cases of childhood cancer in 2017, but only 18% of DALYs , whereas low-middle and low SDI countries with 38% of global incidence accounted for 60% of DALYs .
Cancers of the blood were the main contributors to overall DALYs, accounting for 34% of the total childhood cancer burden worldwide, followed by brain and nervous system cancers . In 2017, the proportion of both leukaemia and brain cancer burden differed by almost 3 times between regions. The proportional burden of leukaemias was highest in central and Andean Latin America and the greatest absolute burden was in south Asia .