Analysis of the frequency of pediatric cancer in the Western Amazon (Brazil): the case of Rondônia

Objective: Analyzes the frequency of cancer in children and adolescents in the State of Rondônia / Western Amazon (Brazil), attended by public health services. Method: This is a descriptive, quantitative and cross-sectional study. We used an instrument developed by Paraguassú-Chaves et al [24], semi-structured, containing a series of variables, such as sex, age, histological types, types of cancer by location of the primary tumor, lymphomas, leukemias, clinical stage of the disease, diagnosis and previous treatment, among others. We asked the Research Ethics Committee to waive the Free and Informed Consent Term, because the study did not require patient intervention or collection of biological material and there was no possibility of constraints for patients and their families. Results: From 122 cases, 56 (45.9%) were female and 66 (55.1%) were male. Regarding the distribution of patients according to the age group, 38 (31.1%) were younger than 4 years, 21 (17.2%), 5 to 9 years, 24 (19.7%) from 10 to 14 and 39 (32.0%) from 15 to 19. The most frequent histological types by gender were myeloproliferative leukemias and myelodysplastic diseases with 39.31% of new cases, reticuloendothelial lymphomas and neoplasms 11.96%, carcinomas and other epithelial neoplasms 11.96% of cases and CNS and several cranial intra-neoplasms and intraspinal with 11.11% of new cases. Leukemia in the hematopoietic and reticuloendothelial system (C42) is the most frequent cancer in children and adolescents, with 46.2% of cancers in the studied period. 20.5% of the cases do not know the stage of the cancer and 79.5% of the patients do not have information about the stage of the disease. 99.38% of pediatric cancer cases are referred by the single public health system - SUS and only 0.11% non-SUS or private health system. 47.6% of children and adolescents who arrive at the cancer clinic of the public health system have no diagnosis or previous treatment. Conclusions: he results presented are similar to the studies carried out in Rondônia, Brazil and other countries and are in agreement with the studies by Paraguassú-Chaves et al [24], Paraguassú-Chaves et al [27] and Paraguassú-Chaves et al [28].Considering some parameters and indicators, it can be concluded that childhood cancer in Rondônia is a public health problem