Table 4 Comparison of observed 5‐year survival rates for childhood cancer cases between Ireland, other European countries2 and the USA8.
| Diagnostic group | Ireland | Europe (20 countries) | Nordic countries†† | USA‡‡ | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994–2000 | 1990–94 | 1990–94 | 1994–2000 | |||||||
| n | Survival (%) | 95% CI | Survival (%) | 95% CI | Range† | Survival (%) | 95% CI | Survival (%) | 95% CI | |
| Invasive cancers: total | 768 | 79.0 | 76.0 to 82.0 | 71.8 | 70.7 to 72.8 | 44.9 to 90.1 | 75.7 | 74.9 to 76.4 | ||
| ICCC groups I–XII: total* | 783 | 79.4 | 76.5 to 82.4 | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| Ia. Lymphoid leukaemia | 186 | 81.7 | 75.9 to 87.6 | 79 | 77 to 81 | 47 to 100 | 84.8 | 82.1 to 87.7 | 83.5 | 82.3 to 84.8 |
| Ib. Acute non‐lymphocytic leukaemia | 42 | 70.1 | 56.6 to 83.6 | 48 | 41 to 49 | 17 to 70 | 61.8 | 51.9 to 73.5 | 48.6 | 44.9 to 52.3 |
| IIa. Hodgkin lymphoma | 31 | 82.9‡ | 63.6 to 92.6 | 94 | 88 to 97 | 73 to 100 | 93.3 | 87.8 to 99.3 | 94.9 | 92.9 to 96.8 |
| IIb. Non‐Hodgkin lymphoma | 35 | 87.9‡ | 70.7 to 95.3 | 79 | 73 to 84 | 42 to 92 | 79.4 | 72.8 to 86.6 | 81.0 | 77.8 to 84.2 |
| III. CNS tumours* | 197 | 71.2 | 64.8 to 77.6 | – | – | – | 73.0 | 69.6 to 76.6 | 67.4 | 65.5 to 69.2 |
| IIIa. Ependymoma* | 10 | 59.2‡ | 24.2 to 82.5 | 55 | 49 to 62 | 36 to 73 | – | – | 65.4 | 59.2 to 71.6 |
| IIIb. Astrocytoma | 122 | 81.3 | 74.4 to 88.2 | 79 | 74 to 83 | 63 to 89 | – | – | 79.8 | 77.6 to 82.0 |
| IIIc. Primitive neuroectodermal tumours | 38 | 48.6 | 32.7 to 64.5 | 50 | 46 to 55 | 11 to 100 | – | – | 62.8 | 59.2 to 66.4 |
| IVa. Neuroblastoma | 34 | 73.0 | 56.4 to 89.6 | 62§ | 57 to 66 | 41 to 68 | 62.0 | 54.6 to 71.2 | 61.7§ | 58.3 to 65.0 |
| V. Retinoblastoma | 16 | 100‡ | 76.5 to 100 | 91¶ | 81 to 96 | 60 to 100 | – | – | 94.9¶ | 92.3 to 97.5 |
| VIa. Wilms tumour, etc. | 35 | 97.1‡ | 81.4 to 103 | 84 | 80 to 87 | 70 to 100 | 91.9 | 87.5 to 96.5 | 85.6 | 83.0 to 88.2 |
| VIIIa. Osteosarcoma (bone) | 13 | 68.8** | 36.7 to 87.0 | 66** | 57 to 64 | 13 to 82 | – | – | 64.0** | 57.7 to 70.3 |
| VIIIc. Ewing sarcoma (bone) | 18 | 75.5 | 52.4 to 98.7 | 69 | 62 to 75 | 31 to 86 | – | – | 65.4 | 58.3 to 72.6 |
| IXa. Rhabdomyosarcoma, etc | 33 | 64.5 | 46.5 to 82.4 | 67 | 62 to 72 | 39 to 100 | – | – | 64.0 | 59.7 to 68.4 |
Survival rates are age standardised to the EUROCARE‐3 patient population for each ICCC group unless otherwise noted, and comparisons are not shown for cancers with <10 Irish cases or for those not published for Europe.2
*These diagnostic groups strictly include some CNS or intracranial tumours of benign or uncertain behaviour, but as non‐malignant cases are not included in the European or US survival data quoted here, invasive cases have also been excluded from Irish data used in these comparisons.
†Inter‐country range of European estimates (1990–94) is quoted where available (countries with >4 cases; Gatta et al2).
‡Irish survival estimates for these diagnostic groups are not age standardised because of insufficient data (or 100% survival in some age groups).
§European survival estimate for neuroblastoma is age standardised using ages 0, 1–4 and 5–14.
¶European survival estimate for retinoblastoma is age standardised using ages 0 and 1–4 only.
**Survival estimates for osteosarcoma are not age standardised and are restricted to age 10–14.
††“Nordic countries” as presented by Gatta et al2 comprise Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden (but not Denmark).
‡‡US SEER data.8
Combined EUROCARE results for western or north‐western Europe were not published separately, but EUROCARE survival figures for the Nordic countries2 approach or exceed those for Ireland (table 4).