Comparison of paediatric cancers outcomes between Palermo Province (Sicily) and Southern Europe

Background: Italy has one of the highest paediatric cancer incidence rate in Europe. We compared cancer incidence and survival in children (0-14 years) and adolescents (15-19 years) resident in Palermo Province with statistics derived from Italian and European surveillance systems. Methods: We included all incident cancer cases, malignant tumours and non-malignant neoplasm of central nervous system (benign and uncertain whether malignant or benign), detected in children and adolescents by the Palermo Province Cancer Registry between 2003 and 2012. A joinpoint regression model was applied. Annual Average Percentage Changes were calculated. The Besag–York–Mollie model was used to detect any cluster. The 5-year survival analysis was computed using Kaplan-Meier and actuarial methods. Results: We identified 555 paediatric cancer incident cases (90% ‘‘malignant tumours only’’). No difference in incidence rates was highlight between Palermo Province and Italy 26 registries and between RTPP and Southern Europe. No joinpoint or significant trend was identified and no cluster was detected. The 5-year overall survival didn’t differ between Palermo Province and Italian AIRTUM pool. A borderline higher statistically significant survival was observed in age-group 1-4 when comparing PPCR to EUROCARE-5. Conclusions: The epidemiological surveillance documented in the Palermo Province a paediatric cancer burden in line with southern Europe and a 5-year survival in line with EUROCARE-5, together with a borderline higher survival in age-group 1-4. The study supports the supplementary role of general population-based cancer registries to provide paediatric cancer surveillance of local communities. The adoption of the new guidelines and recommendations, on which staging systems should be adopted by population-based cancer registries for the major childhood cancers, will make it easy to perform comparative studies on incidence and other outcomes of interest, particularly survival. Key messages: Use of population-based cancer registries to assess and control the impact of cancer diseases. Supplementary role of population-based cancer registries to carry out infant cancer surveillance