Children in Britain Diagnosed With Cancer Have High Survival Rates

Survival rates for kids in Britain diagnosed with cancer have dramatically increased in the past 15 years, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

For all childhood cancers combined, the general trend of increasing five-year survival has continued for children (0 to 14 years) diagnosed between 1990 and 2014, Xinhua news agency reported.

‘The most common cancers in children are leukaemias and malignant neoplasms of the brain. It added the increases in survival are likely to be due to improvements in treatment.’

The ONS report issued on Wednesday showed that for children diagnosed in 1990, the five-year survival was 67.3 percent, while five-year survival is predicted to be 83.9 per cent for children diagnosed with cancer in 2015.

A similar increasing trend was observed for 10-year survival, added the report.

ONS said the increases in 5-year and 10-year survival rates have been observed in each of the age groups 0 to 4 years, 5 to 9 years and 10 to 14 years.

The statistics were collected by the National Cancer Registration Service at Public Health England, produced in partnership with the Cancer Survival Group at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

ONS said the most common cancers in children are leukaemias and malignant neoplasms of the brain. It added the increases in survival are likely to be due to improvements in treatment and supportive care.

Source: IANS