Survival of childhood lymphomas in Europe, 1978-1992: a report from the EUROCARE study

In most developed countries, malignant lymphomas account for 10-15% of all cancers occurring among children aged 0-14 years. The present study estimat es survival after a diagnosis of lymphoma in childhood, based on the EUROCA RE II database which includes 34 population-based cancer registries from 17 European countries. The survival pattern of children with malignant lympho ma diagnosed in 1985-1989 is reported, as well as the time trends since 197 8. The analyses focus on Hodgkin's disease (HD, 1696 cases) and on non-Hodg kin's lymphoma (NHL, 2255 cases including Burkitt's lymphoma and unspecifie d lymphomas). For HD, the European weighted average 5-year survival rate wa s 93% (95% confidence interval (CI) 82-98) in 1985-1989. The survival rates were not affected by either age or gender. 5-year survival rates ranged fr om 68% (95% CI 34-90) in Estonia to 96% (95% CI 92-98) in Germany and 100% (95% CI 57-100) in Slovenia. Multivariate analyses for the time period 1975 -1989 gave little suggestion of an improvement in survival over the later t ime periods of diagnosis. For NHL, the European weighted average 5-year sur vival rate was 74% (95% CI 67-80) in 1985-1989. Gender did not influence th e survival rate. Children in the age group 0-4 years had a poorer prognosis compared with older cases (5-year rate: 66% versus 77% in the pool). 5-yea r survival rates ranged from 53% (95% CI 30-76) (Estonia) to 83% (95% CI 62 -94) in France and 83% (95% CI 66-92) in Scotland. Multivariate analysis sh ow a decreasing HR for the more recent periods of diagnosis from 1 in 1978- 1981 to 0.67 (95% CI 0.56-0.79) in 1982-1985 to 0.48 (95% CI 0.40-0.57) in 1986-1989. Exploratory analysis. conducted including the cancer registries which provided cases diagnosed until 1992, show a positive trend over time for both types of lymphoma. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reser ved.