This study characterizes hospitalizations of children and adolescents with cancer, from 1998 to 2008, to describe the clientele in follow-up in the Regional Health Area of Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil. Morbidity was surveyed in Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil, using hospitalization data from the Unified Health System. The studied variables included: origin, residence, year when care was provided, deaths, age and gender of patients diagnosed with child and adolescent cancer according to the International Classification of Disease 10th edition, Chapter II. The results indicated 7,234 hospitalizations of individuals younger than 18 years old diagnosed with neoplasm, 95% of which were from Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil, and the remainder from cities located in all five of the Brazilian regions. Identifying the characteristics of patients contributes to the identification of information to broaden the sensitization of health professionals concerning the need for secondary preventive actions, such as early diagnosis.