CHILD CA

The risk that a child will develop cancer during
the first 15 years of life is between 1 in 600 and
1 in 450.
• Well established environmental risk factors
account for a very small proportion of cases.
• Obstetric irradiation may have caused 5 per cent
of childhood cancers in the past but probably
accounts for hardly any nowadays.
• Infection with Epstein–Barr virus, hepatitis B or
HIV is definitely a cause of substantial numbers
of cases in some tropical populations but
accounts for far fewer in industrialized countries.
• Infection is probably involved in the aetiology of
childhood leukaemia but its precise role remains
to be elucidated.
• Certain rare genetic conditions are associated
with childhood cancer but account for under
5 per cent of cases.
• If a child has cancer without family history then
the risk of childhood cancer in a sibling is
doubled, but virtually all the excess risk can
be accounted for by known hereditary
syndromes.
• Survival continues to increase and eventually 1 in
1000 adults will be survivors of childhood cancer.
• The risk of a second malignant neoplasm within
25 years of diagnosis of childhood cancer is about
4 per cent, but this may change and very little is
known about the risk among very long-term
survivors.
• The long-term health of survivors and the
children born to them is under investigation