The Pattern of Childhood Cancer in Iraq (2015-2018)

Background: Childhood cancers include a variety of malignancies with variable incidence by age, sex, ethnicity and geographic region. Cancers in children has been reported to have different patterns in various countries of the world. We have previously described the pattern of childhood cancer in Iraq during a five-year period (2000-2004). The aim of this paper is to describe the most recent pattern of cancer by primary site in Iraqi children observed during four-year period (2015-2018).

Patients and Methods: During four-year period (2015-2018), 6442 new cases of cancer were registered in children from birth to 14 year of age accounting for about 5.8% of the total registered cases, and including 1556 in 2015, 1511 in 2016, 1660 during the year 2017, and 1715 during the year 2018.

Results: Leukemia was the number one cancer in children occurring in 3/100,000 children during the year 2015, 3.07./100,000 during the year 2016, 3.71\100,000 during the year 2017, and 3.56/100,000 during the year 2018.Brain and CNS cancer was the second most common childhood cancer. Non-Hodgkin lymphoma was the third most common childhood cancer in males while renal cancer was the third most common childhood cancer in females. Most common childhood cancers were commoner in males, but renal cancer and eye cancer were commoner in females.

Conclusion: The pattern of childhood cancers in Iraq witnessed some changes during the previous decades.

Keywords: Childhood cancers, types, Iraq.