Incidence of childhood cancer

Childhood cancer is rare - around 1,500 new cases are diagnosed every year in the UK.

This means that around one child in 500 will develop some form of cancer by the age of 14 years.

Overall incidence patterns

Boys are more likely than girls to develop cancer, by a ratio of around 6:5. This varies greatly by tumour type; the most striking excess is in lymphomas, which boys are more than twice as likely to develop.

In Britain, childhood cancer incidence rates increased by 38 per cent between 1966 and 2000. Whilst some of this increase is likely to be due to real changes in risk, improvements in diagnosis and registration are likely to have contributed to the increased risk. Similar increases have been reported in countries across Europe as well as in the United States.

Britain has the lowest childhood cancer rate in Europe, and one of the lowest of all western industrialized countries. Australia and the US have some of the highest rates. The reasons for this are not clear.

Breakdown by type of cancer

The most common childhood cancer is leukaemia, which accounts for almost one third of cases. Cancers of the brain and spinal cord (CNS) are the next most common, accounting for one quarter of all cases.

Relative contributions of main diagnostic groups of childhood cancer to overall incidence among children aged 0 to 14 years, Great Britain, 2001 to 2005
Based on data provided by National Registry of Childhood Tumours
(http://www.ccrg.ox.ac.uk/datasets/registrations.htm)

Age distribution

Different types of childhood cancer are most common at different ages.

Some types of cancer – including embryonal tumours (such as neuroblastoma, retinoblastoma and nephroblastoma) and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) - occur most commonly in the under-fives. Others, such as bone tumours are very rare in younger children, increasing in incidence with age and peaking in adolescence.

Distribution of cancer types between age groups - 0 to 4 , 5 to 9 and 10 to 14 years.

More information

Being told that your child has cancer is the start of an uncertain and difficult time for families.

Around 1,500 children are diagnosed with cancer every year in the UK. But there is hope for many - more than seven in 10 children diagnosed with cancer can now be cured.

The following pages are full of information about childhood cancers, the causes and the different treatments available.

Read more: Types of childhood cancer | Childhood leukaemia | Patient stoires

Related Topics childhood leukaemia, incidence, leukaemia incidence, childhood cancer, patient stories, age

Incidence of childhood cancer

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