Incidence and survival of retinoblastoma in Taiwan: a nationwide population-based study 1998–2011

Abstract

ObjectiveTo study the epidemiology of retinoblastoma in Taiwan from 1998 to 2011.DesignThis was a retrospective population-based cohort study using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database.ResultsThe present study included 154 patients (92 males, 62 females) with retinoblastoma and the documented overall retinoblastoma incidence was 1 in 17 373 live births without a notable trend over the study period. The incidence per million live births examined by gender was 65.8 for males and 48.5 for females. The age-specific sex ratio increased from 1.4 at age younger than 1 year to 3.0 above age 4 years. Enucleation was performed in 109 (70.8%) children with retinoblastoma, and it was more prevalent in males than in females (77.2% vs 61.3%, p=0.0335). Multivariate Cox regression analyses with adjustment for diagnostic age, sex, and birth year elucidated that enucleation was a significant factor associated with survival (OR 0.27, 95% CI 0.10 to 0.61).ConclusionsThe incidence of retinoblastoma in Taiwan exhibited no marked trend over time. There were more cases of males than females and the male-to-female rate ratio increased with age. Survival outcome was significantly associated with the intervention of enucleation.

Characteristics of Eye Tumor in Children

“…3,5,[16][17] Anatomical pathology examination affected the proportion of malignancy in this study as this examination is more frequently performed in cases where malignancy and visual capabilities are likely threatened. 6 Table 3 also showed that most of tumors were located in retina, which was attributed to the high number of retinoblastoma, as also found in the US. 3,5,15,18 Retinoblastoma was the most commonly found malignant tumor in this study, in agreement with the findings in the US.…”

“…As such, more boys receive medical attention and the mortality rates are lower among them. 6,9 Referring to the studies mentioned, cultural characteristics of a country can possibly contribute to the results of a study. In Indonesia, a tendency towards a gender has not been found, hence, the similar number of male and female patients was found in this study.…”

“…Chemotherapy can be performed both before surgery to reduce the tumor size, and after surgery to prevent tumor regrowth. 6,9,19 Surgery is frequently performed to prevent tumor 2,6,20 In this study, no subjects underwent radiotherapy. Doctors often decide to only observe when the tumor mass is still very small, seems unthreatening, and has a probability of spontaneous regression.…”

“…How fast treatments can start depends on how early the patient is diagnosed, which can be performed even quicker if the characteristics of the pediatric eye tumor patients are known. 1,[6][7] This study aimed to describe the characteristics of pediatric patients diagnosed with eye tumors.…”

“…Tumors that have been diagnosed earlier, have higher cure rates due to more immediate treatments. [5][6] Eye tumors can be treated with enucleation, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. How fast treatments can start depends on how early the patient is diagnosed, which can be performed even quicker if the characteristics of the pediatric eye tumor patients are known.…”