The number of children surviving cancer has quadrupled in the United States in forty years. Their life expectancy has also been extended.
A wind of hope is blowing on the youngest people affected by cancer. The number of children surviving pediatric cancers has quadrupled in the United States over the past 40 years. This thanks to the progress made in treatments in terms of efficacy and toxicity, reveals a study unveiled Sunday at the annual conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago (Illinois, north).
To arrive at these results, these scientists analyzed medical data from more than 34,000 pediatric cancer survivors who were under 21 years of age at the time of diagnosis.
Forty years ago, “only one in five children survived cancer, while today more than 80% are alive five years after diagnosis,” said Dr. Gregory Armstrong, pediatrician-oncologist at the hospital. St Jude children in Memphis (Tennessee, south). In comparison, among those still alive after five years, the all-cause mortality rate fifteen years after diagnosis fell between 1970 and 1990 from 12.4% to 6%.
This clear improvement is partly attributed to the evolution of care, which now reduces the risk of dying from late effects of pediatric cancer treatments, such as tumors linked to the first cancer or heart and lung diseases.
Thus, the researchers point out that the life expectancy of these sick children has also been extended.
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