title: An estimate of the number of people in Italy living after a childhood cancer.
abstract: Cancers diagnosed in children below the age of 15 years represent 1.2% of all cancer cases, and survival after a childhood cancer has greatly improved over the past 40 years in all high income countries. This study aims to estimate the number of people living in Italy after a childhood cancer for all cancers combined and for a selection of cancer types. We computed 15-year prevalence using data from 15 Italian population-based cancer registries (covering 19% of Italian population) and estimated complete prevalence for Italy by using the CHILDPREV method, implemented in the COMPREV software. A total of 44,135 persons were alive at January 1st, 2010 after a cancer diagnosed during childhood. This number corresponds to a proportion of 73 per 100,000 Italians and to about 2% of all prevalent cases. Among them, 54% were males and 64% had survived after being diagnosed before 1995, the start of the observation period. A quarter of all childhood prevalent cases were diagnosed with brain and central nervous system tumors, a quarter with acute lymphoid leukemia, and 7% with Hodgkin lymphoma. Nearly a quarter of prevalent patients were aged 40 years and older. Information about the number of people living after a childhood cancer in Italy by cancer type and their specific health care needs may be helpful to health-care planners and clinicians in the development of guidelines aimed to reduce the burden of late effect of treatments during childhood.
authors.affiliation: National Centre for Diseases Prevention and Health Promotion (CNAPPS), Italian National Institute of Health (ISS), Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Francisci
authors.affiliation: Veneto Tumor Registry, Veneto Region, Padua.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guzzinati
authors.affiliation: Cancer Epidemiology Unit, CRO Aviano National Cancer Institute IRCCS, Aviano, Italy.
authors.forename: Luigino
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-6163-200X
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dal Maso
authors.affiliation: Unit of Cancer Epidemiology, University of Turin and Città della Salute e della Scienza Hospital, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Carlotta
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sacerdote
authors.affiliation: AIRTUM Database, Florence.|Tuscany Cancer Registry, Clinical and Descriptive Epidemiology Unit, Cancer Prevention and Research Institute (ISPO), Florence.
authors.forename: Carlotta
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Buzzoni
authors.affiliation: Institute for Research on Population and Social Policies, National Research Council, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gigli
authors.affiliation: Members of the AIRTUM Working Group: Massimo Rugge (Veneto Tumor Registry), Ettore Bidoli (Friuli Venezia Giulia Cancer Registry), Dania Bucchi (Umbria Cancer Registry), Giovanna Tagliabue (Varese Cancer Registry), Mario Fusco (Naples Cancer Registry), Fabio Falcini (Romagna Cancer Registry), Enza Marani (Genova Cancer Registry), Fabio Pannozzo (Latina Cancer Registry), Giuliano Carrozzi (Modena Cancer Registry), Lucia Mangone (Reggio Emilia Cancer Registry), Ornelia Sechi (Sassari Cancer Registry), Maria Michiara (Parma Cancer Registry), Eugenia Spata (Ragusa Cancer Registry), Stefano Ferretti (Ferrara Cancer Registry), Adriano Giacomin (Biella Cancer Registry), Milena Maule (Childhood Cancer Registry of Piedmont), Gemma Gatta (Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan), Riccardo Capocaccia (National Centre for Epidemiology, Surveillance and Health Promotion, Italian National Institute of Health, Rome, Italy.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality*; D015995:Prevalence; D012042:Registries; D015996:Survival Rate
keywords: Italy; childhood cancer; incidence; prevalence; survival