Childhood Cancers in Zimbabwe: A 10 year review of the Zimbabwe National Cancer Registry data.

OBJECTIVE: To document the pattern of cancer in children (0-14 years) registered in the Zimbabwe National Cancer Registry from 2000-2009.

DESIGN: Retrospective descriptive analysis.

METHODS: Analysis of data from the Zimbabwe National Cancer Registry for the period 2000-2009.

SETTING: The Zimbabwe National Cancer Registry.

RESULTS: Childhood Cancer constituted 3.8% of all malignancies recorded at the cancer registry during the study period. The common cancers were: Wilm's Tumour 286 (16.2%), Kaposi Sarcoma 277 (15.7%), Retinoblastoma 231 (13.1%), Non- Hodgkins lymphoma 182 (10.3%), leukemia 158 (8.9%), brain and nervous tissue 107 (6.1%), connective tissue 105 (5.9%), bone 97 (5.5%), Hodgkins lymphoma 57 (3.2%), Non-melanoma skin 33 (1.9%). All the other remaining cancers were 233 (13.2%). Burkits lymphoma constituted only 2% of all cancers. The noted pattern of cancers in this study were compared to patterns from other countries and similarities and differences are discussed.

CONCLUSION: This study showed high incidence rates of Nephroblastoma, Retinoblastoma and Kaposi sarcoma. In contrast to high income countries leukemia and brain tumours are more prevalent in older age group. Compared to other countries in Africa, Burkits lymphoma was rare. Further research is required to identify factors that influence relative frequencies in childhood cancers in Zimbabwe. Findings from this study provide baseline data for future studies.