title: Pediatric bone tumors in Germany from 1987 to 2011: incidence rates, time trends and survival.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Malignant bone tumors are a rare group of childhood cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study describes incidence rates, survival probabilities, and time trends for 1831 children below 15 years of age with a bone tumor registered at the population-based German Childhood Cancer Registry between 1987 and 2011.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall age-standardized annual incidence rate (ASR) was 5.5 per million. Osteosarcomas (ASR 2.8) and Ewing tumors (ASR 2.6) were the most frequent diagnostic groups. The incidence of bone tumors overall tended to increase slightly over time by 0.7% each year on average. Thirty-nine of the bone tumor cases reported were subsequent primaries and not included into the survival analysis. Survival probabilities remained largely constant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Possibly survival was largely constant because chemotherapy has not changed much over time. Overall, the results are similar to other results reported from Europe.
authors.affiliation: a German Childhood Cancer Registry, Institute for Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics (IMBEI) , University Medical Centre of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz , Mainz , Germany.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kaatsch
authors.affiliation: a German Childhood Cancer Registry, Institute for Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics (IMBEI) , University Medical Centre of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz , Mainz , Germany.
authors.forename: Jill
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Strothotte
authors.affiliation: a German Childhood Cancer Registry, Institute for Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics (IMBEI) , University Medical Centre of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz , Mainz , Germany.
authors.forename: Cornelia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.affiliation: b Pediatrics 5 (Oncology, Hematology, Immunology) , Klinikum Stuttgart - Olgahospital , Stuttgart , Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bielack
authors.affiliation: c Paediatric Haematology and Oncology , University Children's Hospital Muenster , Muenster , Germany.
authors.forename: Uta
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Dirksen
authors.affiliation: d Institute for Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics (IMBEI) , University Medical Centre Mainz , Mainz , Germany.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Blettner
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D012516:Osteosarcoma / Q000453:epidemiology*; D035583:Rare Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012042:Registries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012512:Sarcoma, Ewing / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013997:Time Factors