Official figures show that survival in children continues to improve, with 5-year survival for all cancers increasing from 77.1% in 2001 to 84.0% predicted for those diagnosed in 2017. New data from Public Health England (PHE) show that increases in 1-, 5- and 10-year survival were seen in the age groups 0-4 years, 5-9 years and 10-14 years.
In a statistical bulletin published this week, the PHE presents the latest statistics on cancer survival in England in paediatric patients followed up from 2001 to 2017. In 2016 data, paediatric cancers accounted for about 0.5% of all new cancer diagnoses. The most common childhood malignancies were leukaemia and malignant neoplasms of the brain, which accounted for more than 50% of all childhood cancers in 2016.
The report says the improvement in survival is likely due to improvements in treatment and supportive care and points out that increases in survival for many of the principal types of childhood cancer have occurred in parallel with clinical trials since the 1990s.
Adult cancer survival statistics are being withheld at present. The data were due to be published alongside the childhood figures in a combined bulletin, however, during quality assurance assessment, some anomalies were identified. As a precaution, only childhood cancer survival outcomes are being published at this time. The adult and stage at diagnosis survival estimates are expected in the Autumn.
