Facts about Cancer in Children

Did you know:

Brain tumors are a leading cause of death in children each year.

Cancer during adolescence and young adulthood is increasing and unexplained; progress is treating cancer in these age groups in lagging.

In the United States, the incidence of cancer is increasing among adolescents and young adults at a greater rate than in any other age group, except those older than 65 years.

The cause of this increase in unknown at present.

Currently, childhood cancer cannot be prevented.

The causes of most childhood cancers are unknown.

Childhood cancer as a group is the sixth most common type of cancer in the United States; It is exceeded in incidence per population only by cancers of the lung, colon, breast, prostate, and bladder.

On the average, one in every four elementary schools has a child with cancer. The average high school has two students who are current or former cancer patients.

Currently, one in every 330 Americans develops cancer during childhood or adolescence, before the age of 20. On the average, 46 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer every weekday in the United States.

Cancer care in the young has led to many developments in treating adult cancer patients and victims of other diseases