Background: The aim of this article is to analyze the time trends during 1973-2005 in urban Shanghai and to describe the current characteristics of childhood cancer in Shanghai.
Procedure: All data were from the Shanghai Cancer Registry. Time trends of period 1973-2005 in urban Shanghai of males and females were assessed by annual percentage change of incidence. The current characteristics of Shanghai childhood cancer average annual incidence were analyzed regarding sex, age, and cancer types. All cancers were allocated into 12 major groupings of ICCC.
Results: Over the 33-year period, the overall age-standardized incidence rate for all cancers combined has no substantial change or trend in urban Shanghai aged 0-14. A total of 609 cases of childhood cancer were diagnosed in Shanghai from 2002 to 2005. The ASR of 2002-2005 is 129.0 per million for all cancers combined, and it was almost similar in males (128.5 per million) and in females (129.6 per million). Incidence rates are highest in the first 5 years of life with 173.3 per million. Leukaemia was the most common cancer (34.5%). Brain and spinal tumour was the second most common cancer (20.2%), followed by lymphomas (8.4%). The relative frequencies of Wilms tumour (2.0%) and Ewing sarcoma (0.5%) were lower than those reported from western countries.
Conclusion: During 1973-2005, the trend of childhood cancer incidence in urban Shanghai has shown no significant change. Incidence of childhood cancers in Shanghai was in the medium level compared to other parts of the world and the relative frequencies of various cancers were comparable.
Copyright 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.