Childhood Cancers

Cancer is the second leading cause of death among children, second only to injuries. About 1,000 children under the age of 20 are diagnosed with cancer every year in New York. Due to advances in treatment, more children than ever are surviving childhood cancers, and death rates are declining.

What are the statistics for childhood cancer in my county/borough/NYC neighborhood?

Cancer is a reportable disease in New York State. All health care providers in New York are required by law to report all cases of cancer to the New York State Cancer Registry. Every year, the Cancer Registry compiles cancer statistics and posts them on the NYSDOH web site.

Statistics on cancer in children include newly diagnosed cases for every county or borough of the state, and newly diagnosed cases for 55 neighborhoods within New York City. Statistics for the state as a whole, New York City, and New York State outside of New York City are given for comparison. Because of the relatively small numbers of cases of the different types of childhood cancer, especially in smaller counties and neighborhoods, the tables for counties, boroughs and NYC neighborhoods include only all types of childhood cancer combined.

In the tables, average annual cases is the average number of childhood cancers diagnosed in one year for the five-year period. (This is calculated by dividing the total number of cases diagnosed in five years by five.) Since places with more children would be expected to have more children with cancer, the tables also give the rate per 1,000,000. The rate of newly diagnosed cases of cancer in children estimates the risk of a child being diagnosed with cancer, and it can be used to compare places with different numbers of children. (Rates are age-adjusted so that places with different age structures can be compared.) The 95% confidence interval (95% C.I.) is a measure of the stability of the rate. The narrower (smaller) the confidence interval, the more stable the rate. Areas with more cases have more stable rates.

Acknowledgement

New York is one of seven states funded through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Pediatric and Young Adult Early Case Capture project, under cooperative agreement NU58DP005393 awarded to the New York State Department of Health. To learn more about this project, visit the CDC web site at: https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/npcr/early-case-capture.htm