Background Leukemia is the most common cancer in childhood. The estimated incidence rate of childhood leukemia in Colombia is one of the highest in America and little is known about its spatial distribution. Purpose To explore the presence of space-time clustering of childhood leukemia in Colombia. Methods We included children less than 15 years of age with confirmed diagnosis of acute leukemia reported to the national surveillance system for cancer between 2009 and 2017. Kulldorff’s spatio-temporal scan statistics were used with municipality and year of diagnosis as units for spatial and temporal analysis. Results There were 3846 cases of childhood leukemia between 2009 and 2017 with a specific mean incidence rate of 33 cases per million person-years in children aged 0–14 years. We identified five spatial clusters of childhood leukemia in different regions of the country and specific time clustering during the study period. Conclusion Childhood leukemia seems to cluster in space and time in some regions of Colombia suggesting a common etiologic factor or conditions to be studied.
Background: Childhood cancer is considered one the most important causes of death in children and adolescents, despite having a low incidence in this population. Spatial analysis has been previously used for the study of childhood cancer to study the geographical distribution of leukemias. This study aimed to identify the presence of space-time clusters of childhood of cancer excluding leukemia in Colombia between 2014 and 2017. Methods: All incident cancer cases (excluding leukemia) in children under the age of 15 years that had been confirmed by the National Surveillance System of Childhood Cancer between 2014 and 2017 were included. Kulldorf’s circular scan test was used to identify clusters using the municipality of residence as the spatial unit of analysis and the year of diagnosis as the temporal unit of analysis. A sensitivity analysis was conducted with different upper limit parameters for the at-risk population. Results: A total of 2006 cases of non-leukemia childhood cancer were analyzed, distributed in 432 municipalities with a mean annual incidence rate of 44 cases per million children under the age of 15. Central nervous system (CNS) tumors were the most frequent type. Four spatial clusters and two space-time clusters were identified in the central and southwest regions of the country. In the analysis for CNS tumors, a spatial cluster was identified in the central region of the country. Conclusions: The distribution of non-leukemia childhood cancer seems to have a clustered distribution in some Colombian regions that may suggest infectious or environmental factors associated with its incidence.
Introducción: El cáncer designa un grupo de enfermedades caracterizadas por la división descontrolada de células anormales. Colombia realiza la vigilancia epidemiológica en menores de 18 años, clasificando los canceres en 14 grupos de acuerdo con la Clasificación Internacional de Cáncer Infantil —ICCC-3. El análisis identifica diferencias epidemiológicas según la clasificación por ruralidad de los municipios, permitiendo formular acciones para la orientación de aspectos programáticos del evento. Métodos: Para el año 2017 se notificaron 1.785 ca- sos. Se consideraron 1.492 casos clasificados como confirmados y nuevos para el estudio. Se calcularon de frecuencias, medidas de tendencia central y pro- porciones de incidencia de acuerdo con la clasificación por ruralidad de los municipios (ciudad-aglomerado, intermedio, rurales y dispersos). Los denominadores para incidencia se calcularon a partir de las proyecciones del Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadísticas (DANE) 2017 por municipio. Resultados: Los casos residen en 363 municipios del país, 126 (34,7 %) se clasifican como dispersos; es- tos presentan la incidencia más alta con 17,1/ 100.000 menores de 18 años, siendo en hombres de 18,4, y en mujeres de 15,7. El mayor número de casos se presentó entre los dos y tres años de edad. Las leucemias linfoides agudas (LLA) representan el mayor porcentaje en todos los tipos de municipios con el 30,4- 40,5 % de los canceres. El tiempo promedio entre la fecha de inicio de síntomas y la fecha de consulta fue mayor en municipios dispersos con 111 días. Conclusión: Se observaron incidencias más altas en municipios dispersos con tiempos de atención prolongados, lo cual exige la re-orientación de las estrategias de salud pública, diagnóstico oportuno en estas zonas y promoción de acciones de prevención a la exposición de cancerígenos.
Background: Childhood cancer is considered one the most important causes of death in children and adolescents, despite having a low incidence in this population. Spatial analysis has been previously used for the study of childhood cancer to study the geographical distribution of leukemias. This study aimed to identify the presence of space-time clusters of childhood of cancer excluding leukemia in Colombia between 2014 and 2017. Methods: All incident cancer cases (excluding leukemia) in children under the age of 15 years that had been confirmed by the National Surveillance System of Childhood Cancer between 2014 and 2017 were included. Kulldorf’s circular scan test was used to identify clusters using the municipality of residence as the spatial unit of analysis and the year of diagnosis as the temporal unit of analysis. A sensitivity analysis was conducted with different upper limit parameters for the at-risk population in the clusters. Results: A total of 2006 cases of non-leukemia childhood cancer were analyzed, distributed in 432 out of 1,122 municipalities with a mean annual incidence rate of 44 cases per million children under the age of 15. Central nervous system (CNS) tumors were the most frequent type. Two space-time clusters were identified in the central and southwest regions of the country. In the analysis for CNS tumors, a spatial cluster was identified in the central region of the country. Conclusions: The distribution of non-leukemia childhood cancer seems to have a clustered distribution in some Colombian regions that may suggest infectious or environmental factors associated with its incidence although heterogeneity in access to diagnosis cannot be discarded.
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