PMID: 9424437Jul 1, 1997Paper

Malignant tumors in children living in the province of Trieste, 1972-1993: descriptive epidemiology and the quality of diagnostic-therapeutic services

Epidemiologia e prevenzione
P TamaroG Stanta

Abstract

The study objectives were: 1) to analyse the incidence and death rates from cancer among children aged 0-14 years resident in the north-eastern Italian province of Trieste between 1972-1993, using data from the population-based Trieste Cancer Registry; 2) to evaluate the local diagnostic facilities by analysing the accuracy of histological diagnoses, the causes of delay in the diagnosis, and the interval between onset of symptoms and diagnosis of cancer; 3) to calculate the proportion of patients treated following the most effective therapy protocols known at the time of the tumour detection, and to compute the actuarial five-year survival rates since diagnosis. We recorded 123 new cases of cancer (93% microscopically verified) corresponding to a rate, age-standardized to the world population, of 161.9 (standard error [SE] = 15.1) per million child-years. The most common diagnostic group was that of primary brain tumours: 40 cases, rate = 51.0 (SE = 8.4). In 102 cases the diagnosis was made at hospitals in the province of Trieste, with a median time of seven days (25th-75th percentile = 1-16) between admission and diagnosis. In 37 cases the length of the interval between the advancing of the diagnostic hypothesis of cancer and ...Continue Reading

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