International variations in the incidence of childhood renal tumours

Abstract

Summary The International Agency for Research on Cancer has coordinated a worldwide study of childhood cancer incidence, with data from over 50 countries. We present here the results on renal tumours. Wilms' tumour was the most common malignant kidney tumour in all regions. It is sometimes considered to be an 'index cancer of childhood' but it is clear from the present study that there is at least a threefold difference in incidence between the age-standardised annual rates of over 10 per million in the Black populations in the United States and Nigeria and those of around three per million in several East Asian populations. In White Caucasian populations, Wilms' tumour had an annual incidence of 6-9 per million, accounting for 5-7% of all childhood cancer. It was almost everywhere equally common in boys and girls, but the sex ratio in East Asia was M/F = 1.4:1. Age distributions were similar among White Caucasian and Black populations, with the peak incidence in the second year of life. In East Asia, however, 25-40% of the total incidence occurred in infants aged under I year, compared with around 15% in many Western series. Other studies have shown that, in the United States, Wilms' tumour has a lower incidence among Asian children than among Whites or Blacks and tends to occur at a younger age. The variation in patterns of incidence of Wilms' tumour along ethnic rather than geographical lines suggests that genetic predisposition is important in its aetiology. Renal carcinoma in childhood is rare throughout the world, with little sign of international variation. It accounted for a higher proportion of childhood renal tumours in East Asia but this was attributable to the lower incidence of Wilms' tumour in that region.The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) recently coordinated the first comprehensive worldwide study of childhood cancer incidence in which data were collected wherever possible from population based registries and diagnostic groups were defined according to histology (Parkin et al., 1988a). The study included data from some 50 countries and a summary of some of the principal findings has been given elsewhere (Parkin et al., 1988b).Wilms' tumour is by far the commonest form of malignant kidney tumour in childhood. At one time it was believed to have a relatively constant incidence throughout the world and was thus proposed as an 'index tumour' of childhood (Innis, 1972). It was clear from the IARC study, however, that there is a three-to four-fold variation in the incidence of Wilms' tumour between different regions and ethnic groups. In this paper we present a more detailed account of the results for Wilms' tumour and other childhood renal tumours. Materials and methodsA detailed description of the methods used in collecting and coding the data is given in the monograph on the IARC study (Parkin et al., 1988a). The series included in the monograph all contained at least 200 cases of childhood cancer. Wherever possible, series were used from populationbased registries which were bel...

Childhood cancer and ethnic group in Britain: a United Kingdom children's Cancer Study Group (UKCCSG) study

“…Blacks with Wilms' tumour have been reported as being slightly older than Whites in the United States (Breslow et al, 1988) though there was little evidence of differences in the agedistribution between Blacks and Whites in the IARC study. Wilms' tumour is relatively rare in the Indian sub-continent (Stiller & Parkin, 1990b). In the present series, West Indians had a substantially higher relative frequency of Wilms' tumour which was most marked among older children.…”

“…The present data provide further evidence of substantial variations in the occurrence of Wilms' tumour. The highest incidence has been found in Black populations both in Africa and in the United States (Parkin et al, 1988b;Stiller & Parkin, 1990b). Blacks with Wilms' tumour have been reported as being slightly older than Whites in the United States (Breslow et al, 1988) though there was little evidence of differences in the agedistribution between Blacks and Whites in the IARC study.…”

“…Asian children, on the other hand, had a low relative frequency compared with Caucasians. Thus it seems likely that, for children of south Asian ethnic origin as well as for Blacks, the incidence of Wilms' tumour is unaffected by migration, a pattern also observed for children of Far Eastern origin in east Asia and the United States (Stiller & Parkin, 1990b).…”

11p13 Deletion Syndrome: First Case in Morocco Detected by FISH

“…WT is one of the most common solid tumors of childhood occurring in 1/10,000 cases [11] and thus accounting for 8% of childhood cancers. The age of onset is between 3 and 4 years and the majority of cases are diagnosed before 5 years of age [12].…”

Evidence for susceptibility genes to familial Wilms tumour in addition to WT1, FWT1 and FWT2

“…Wilms tumour (WT) is an embryonal tumour of the kidney that affects 1 in 10 000 children and accounts for 8% of all childhood cancers (Stiller and Parkin, 1990). In 1-2% of cases the disease clusters in families in which susceptibility to WT appears to be predominantly inherited as an autosomal dominant trait with incomplete penetrance (Breslow et al, 1996).…”