Descriptive Epidemiology in Mexican children with cancer under an open national public health insurance program

BACKGROUND: All the children registered at the National Council for the Prevention and Treatment of Childhood Cancer were analyzed. The rationale for this Federal Government Council is to financially support the treatment of all children registered into this system. All patients are within a network of 55 public certified hospitals nationwide. METHODS: In the current study, data from 2007 to 2012 are presented for all patients (0–18 years) with a pathological diagnosis of leukemia, lymphoma and solid tumors. The parameters analyzed were prevalence, incidence, mortality, and abandonment rate. RESULTS: A diagnosis of cancer was documented in 14,178 children. The incidence was of 156.9/million/year (2012). The median age was 4.9. The most common childhood cancer is leukemia, which occurs in 49.8% of patients (2007–2012); and has an incidence rate of 78.1/million/year (2012). The national mortality rate was 5.3/100,000 in 2012, however in the group between 15 to 18 years it reaches a level of 8.6. CONCLUSIONS: The study demonstrates that there is a high incidence of childhood cancer in Mexico. In particular, the results reveal an elevated incidence and prevalence of leukemia especially from 0 to 4 years. Only 4.7% of these patients abandoned treatment. The clinical outcome for all of the children studied improved since the establishment of this national program.