Introduction: Leukemia and lymphomas are the 2 most frequent malignancies among children in Cali, Colombia, although survival information for these malignancies remains limited in both Cali and throughout all of Colombia.
Objective: To estimate the 5-year survival rate in children diagnosed with leukemia and lymphomas in the University Hospital of Valle, at Cali, Colombia.
Methods: Three hundred and twenty-four patients younger than 15 years of age were included, diagnosed with either leukemia or lymphomas from 1998 to 2006. Active follow-up was conducted by clinical records reviewing and phone contacting. The cumulative survival rate was estimated to be from 1 to 5 years from diagnosis using the actuarial method. The Cox regression model was used to determine some of the factors associated with the prognosis.
Results: Of all cases, 61.8% were male patients, 75.3% corresponded to leukemia, and the rest to lymphomas. The global cumulated survival rate at 1 and 5 years were 71% and 50%, respectively. The risk of death from lymphomas was lower compared with leukemia, hazard ratio=0.36 (P<0.01). The highest cumulated survival rate was found in the group 5 to 9 years old (61%), followed by the group 0 to 4 years old (48%) and the group 10 to 14 years old (41%), all results reaching statistical significance (P<0.01), and showing lower survival rates than the data from international literature.
Conclusions: The survival rates for leukemia and lymphomas in Cali are lower compared with the data of developed countries, suggesting that there are deficiencies in early diagnosis and in access to medication and opportune treatment.