In 2023, cancer caused more childhood deaths than measles, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, according to a study published April 3 in The Lancet.
Researchers from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, based at the University of Washington in Seattle, highlighted the latest childhood cancer findings from the Global Burden of Disease 2023 study.
Here are five things to know from the study:
- In 2023, there were 377,000 new cases and 144,000 deaths from childhood cancer worldwide.
- Since 1990, childhood cancer incidence has remained “relatively stable” and mortality has decreased 27%, according to an April 3 news release from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
- Most of the childhood cancer burden was experienced in low- and middle-income countries, which accounted for 85% of new cases and 94% of deaths.
- The World Health Organization’s Western Pacific and African regions had the greatest number of cases, while the African region had the most deaths.
Childhood cancer mortality within the African region increased nearly 56% between 1990 and 2023. - The most common cancer types associated with the global cancer burden in 2023 were leukemias, brain and central nervous system cancers, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Nearly half of all childhood cancer deaths in 2023 were estimated to come from the six index cancers identified by the WHO Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer: acute lymphoblastic leukemia, Burkitt lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, retinoblastoma, Wilms’ tumor and low-grade glioma.
Read the full study here.
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