Oncological Morbidity of Children in the Arkhangelsk Region and the Nenets Autonomous District: An Ecological Study

Abstract

Background. The study of oncological morbidity in children, as well as the characteristics of its structure and the analysis of temporal trends within the subject of the Russian Federation is aimed at improving the organization of medical care: increasing early diagnosis, reliability of static data, and optimizing patient routing. Objective. Our aim was to analyze the incidence and its structure in children (0–17 years old) who lived in the Arkhangelsk Region and the Nenets Autonomous District in 2007–2016. Methods. The analysis of the incidence of malignant neoplasms of the child population in the Arkhangelsk region and the Nenets Autonomous District was carried out. Results. During the study period, the diagnosis of cancer was first established in 329 (including 6 patients from other subjects of the Russian Federation children (boys — 177, girls — 146) at the age of 0–17 years, of which 260 children at the age of 0–14 years and 63 — at the age of 15–17 years. The average annual incidence of children over 10 years was 14.3: for the age group 0–14 years old — 13.8, for the age group 15–17 years old — 16.6. During the analyzed period, there were significant fluctuations in annual incidence rates (minimum — 9.8 in 2010; maximum — 16.8 in 2009). The average annual incidence in the age group 15–17 years (16.6) was 18% higher than in the age group 0–14 years (14). The morbidity structure was characterized by some predominance of solid tumors (51.7%) over hemoblastosis (48.3%), and in the group of 0–14 years this ratio was 54.6/45.4%, in the group of 15–17 years — 50, 9/49.1%. Conclusion. In the analyzed subjects in recent years there has been practically no increase in the incidence in children. The incidence in the age group 15–17 years is slightly higher than in the age group 0–14 years. Changes in the morbidity structure are noted, mainly due to a decrease in the proportion of lymphomas.