Statistics for cancers in children, adolescents, and young adults

4. Trends Over Time

This section provides trends in age-adjusted incidence rates by major cancer site and subsites among children aged 0 to 19 in the National Childhood Cancer Registry (NCCR). Cancer rates often vary from year to year. To determine whether the changes are meaningful changes, the Average Annual Percent Change (AAPC) shows the average of changes over multiple years. The Joinpoint method was used to estimate trends for the most recent 10 years and from 1999-2017.

In the most recent 10 years:

  • Incidence is significantly increasing for non-malignant central nervous system neoplasms (AAPC=3.0), epithelial neoplasms and melanomas (AAPC=2.5), hepatic tumors (AAPC=2.3), and malignant germ cell cancer (AAPC=1.5) (Figure 4.1).
  • Increasing trends for non-malignant central nervous system neoplasms (APC=3.0) should be interpreted with caution as they were reportable starting in 2004 and likely reflect improvements in case ascertainment (Figure 4.1).

Figure 4.1: Average Annual Percent Change in the Most Recent 10-years for Major Cancer Sites, 2008-2017#

2008-2017 Average annual percent change for major ICCC site groups and selected sub-site groups. Refer to the data download link for values displayed in the graph

Increasing trends for non-malignant central nervous system neoplasms should be interpreted with caution as they were reportable starting in 2004 and likely reflect improvements in case ascertainment.

# Cancer site definitions are based on International Classification of Childhood Cancer (ICCC). All cancers are malignant unless otherwise noted.
Download data for Figure 4.1 (XLSX, 12 KB).

Figure 4.2: Annual Incident Rate Trends by Cancer Site, 1999-2017#

I. Leukemias

I. Leukemias
I. Leukemias Age-adjusted rates per 1,000,000 and Joinpoint Regression trend line by year of diagnosis. APCs are available in the data download.
I.a. Lymphoid Leukemias
I.a. Lymphoid Leukemias Age-adjusted rates per 1,000,000 and Joinpoint Regression trend line by year of diagnosis. APCs are available in the data download.
I.b. Acute Myeloid Leukemias
I.b. Acute Myeloid Leukemias Age-adjusted rates per 1,000,000 and Joinpoint Regression trend line by year of diagnosis. APCs are available in the data download.

II. Lymphomas

II. Lymphomas
II. Lymphomas Age-adjusted rates per 1,000,000 and Joinpoint Regression trend line by year of diagnosis. APCs are available in the data download.
II.a. Hodgkin Lymphomas
II.a. Hodgkin Lymphomas Age-adjusted rates per 1,000,000 and Joinpoint Regression trend line by year of diagnosis. APCs are available in the data download.
II.b. Non-Hodgkin Lymphomas
II.b. Non-Hodgkin Lymphomas Age-adjusted rates per 1,000,000 and Joinpoint Regression trend line by year of diagnosis. APCs are available in the data download.

III. Central Nervous System Neoplasms

III. Central Nervous System Neoplasms (Malignant)
III. Central Nervous System Neoplasms (Malignant) Age-adjusted rates per 1,000,000 and Joinpoint Regression trend line by year of diagnosis. APCs are available in the data download.
III.b. Astrocytomas (Malignant)
III.b. Astrocytomas (Malignant) Age-adjusted rates per 1,000,000 and Joinpoint Regression trend line by year of diagnosis. APCs are available in the data download.
III.c. Intracranial/Intraspinal Embryonal Tumors (Malignant)
III.c. Intracranial/Intraspinal Embryonal Tumors Age-adjusted rates per 1,000,000 and Joinpoint Regression trend line by year of diagnosis. APCs are available in the data download.
III. Central Nervous System Neoplasms (Non-Malignant)
III. Central Nervous System Neoplasms (Non-Malignant) Age-adjusted rates per 1,000,000 and Joinpoint Regression trend line by year of diagnosis. APCs are available in the data download.
III.b. Astrocytomas (Non-Malignant)
III.b. Astrocytomas (Non-Malignant) Age-adjusted rates per 1,000,000 and Joinpoint Regression trend line by year of diagnosis. APCs are available in the data download.

IV. Neuroblastoma

IV. Neuroblastoma
IV. Neuroblastoma Age-adjusted rates per 1,000,000 and Joinpoint Regression trend line by year of diagnosis. APCs are available in the data download.
IV.a. Neuroblastoma/Ganglioneuroblastoma
IV.a. Neuroblastoma/Ganglioneuroblastoma Age-adjusted rates per 1,000,000 and Joinpoint Regression trend line by year of diagnosis. APCs are available in the data download.

V. Retinoblastoma

V. Retinoblastoma Age-adjusted rates per 1,000,000 and Joinpoint Regression trend line by year of diagnosis. APCs are available in the data download.

VI. Renal Tumors

VI. Renal Tumors
VI. Renal Tumors Age-adjusted rates per 1,000,000 and Joinpoint Regression trend line by year of diagnosis. APCs are available in the data download.
VI.a. Nephroblastoma
VI.a. Nephroblastoma Age-adjusted rates per 1,000,000 and Joinpoint Regression trend line by year of diagnosis. APCs are available in the data download.

VII. Hepatic Tumors

VII. Hepatic Tumors Age-adjusted rates per 1,000,000 and Joinpoint Regression trend line by year of diagnosis. APCs are available in the data download.

VIII. Malignant Bone Tumors

VIII. Malignant Bone Tumors
VIII. Malignant Bone Tumors Age-adjusted rates per 1,000,000 and Joinpoint Regression trend line by year of diagnosis. APCs are available in the data download.
VIII.a. Osteosarcomas
VIII.a. Osteosarcomas Age-adjusted rates per 1,000,000 and Joinpoint Regression trend line by year of diagnosis. APCs are available in the data download.

IX. Soft Tissue Tumors

IX. Soft Tissue Tumors Age-adjusted rates per 1,000,000 and Joinpoint Regression trend line by year of diagnosis. APCs are available in the data download.

X. Germ Cell Tumors

X. Germ Cell Tumors (Malignant)
X. Germ Cell Tumors (Malignant) Age-adjusted rates per 1,000,000 and Joinpoint Regression trend line by year of diagnosis. APCs are available in the data download.
X.a. Intracranial/Intraspinal Germ Cell Tumors (Malignant)
X.a. Intracranial/Intraspinal Germ Cell Tumors (Malignant) Age-adjusted rates per 1,000,000 and Joinpoint Regression trend line by year of diagnosis. APCs are available in the data download.
X.c. Gonadal Germ Cell Tumors (Malignant)
X.c.  Gonadal Germ Cell Tumors (Malignant) Age-adjusted rates per 1,000,000 and Joinpoint Regression trend line by year of diagnosis. APCs are available in the data download.
X. Germ Cell Tumors (Non-Malignant)
X. Germ Cell Tumors (Non-Malignant) Age-adjusted rates per 1,000,000 and Joinpoint Regression trend line by year of diagnosis. APCs are available in the data download.
X.a. Intracranial/Intraspinal Germ Cell Tumors (Non-Malignant)
X.a. Intracranial/Intraspinal Germ Cell Tumors (Non-Malignant) Age-adjusted rates per 1,000,000 and Joinpoint Regression trend line by year of diagnosis. APCs are available in the data download.

XI. Epithelial Neoplasms and Melanomas

XI. Epithelial Neoplasms and Melanomas Age-adjusted rates per 1,000,000 and Joinpoint Regression trend line by year of diagnosis. APCs are available in the data download.

XII. Other and Unspecified Malignant Neoplasms

XII. Other and Unspecified Malignant Neoplasms Age-adjusted rates per 1,000,000 and Joinpoint Regression trend line by year of diagnosis. APCs are available in the data download.

# Cancer site definitions are based on International Classification of Childhood Cancer (ICCC). All cancers are malignant unless otherwise noted.
* Indicates Annual Percent Change (APC) is statistically significant.
Download data for Figures 4.2 (XLSX, 26 KB)