Measurement of the Severity of Pediatric Cancer in West Bengal, India

Arpita Chatterjee

Background and Objective: In children, cancer is the second commonest cause of death after accidents in developed countries. In the present study, the cancer incidence was recorded in the pediatric age group for the last 10 years (2011-2020). Materials and Methods: A total of 1945 cases were assessed from patients attending Barasat Cancer Research and Welfare Centre, a tertiary health centre of West Bengal and covering many districts of eastern India. Results: The most frequently affected carcinomas were acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), acute myelocytic leukemia (AML), Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (NHL), lymphoma, carcinoma of the brain (Ca-Brain), osteosarcoma and keratosarcoma. Results revealed that, below 10 years of age, among children, ALL was alarmingly high (31.05%), followed by AML (18.82%), Hodgkin’s lymphoma (14.27%), NHL (14.14%), osteosarcoma (10.59%) and lymphoma (10.23%). The incidence of Ca-Brain and Kerato-sarcoma was negligible with only 0.57 and 0.31% frequency, respectively. The cancer frequency was high during 2011-2015 and reached the maximum in the year 2014. The frequency of these cancers was moderate during 2016-2018 but it rises drastically in 2019. But there was a sudden decrease in disease incidence was noted for the year 2020, which may be due to less number of patients attending the health care centre in the COVID-19 pandemic situation in the year 2020. Conclusion: The present demographic study indicates that pediatric cancer is prevalent in this population and results in morbidity and mortality in children with an increased rate.

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