Cancer Incidence
There were 3,437 infants with newly diagnosed cancer (1,740 cases in
males and 1,689 cases in females) from 1975 to 2014. Incidence by
10-year time frame, gender, race, registry, and ICCC-3 groups are shown
in Table 1. The overall annual incidence rate of malignant neoplasms in
infants was 23.6 cases per 100,000 population. Males and females had
similar incidence rates (male 23.3/100,000 and female 23.8/100,000).
Infant cancer incidence rates among whites was about 20 percent higher
(p<0.05) than black and other races (American Indian/Alaska
Natives, and Asian/Pacific Islanders) .There were no significant
differences in cancer incidences between blacks (19.9/100,000) and other
racial groups(19.4/100,000). New Mexico had the lowest incidence rate
(19.5/100,000). Incidence rates in Seattle, Connecticut, Utah, Detroit
and San Francisco were significantly higher than those in New Mexico.
Among males, only San Francisco had a significantly higher incidence
rate than New Mexico. Among females, Iowa, Seattle, Connecticut, Utah,
and Detroit had significantly higher rates than New Mexico. Connecticut
was the only registry in which the incidence ratio between genders was
significantly different. The incidence rates increased more than 20
percent from 20.5/100,000 in 1975-1984 to 26.5/100,000 in 2005-2014. For
males, the incidence rates in 1985-1994, 1995-2004 and 2005-2014 were
all significantly higher than 1975-1984. In contrast, for females, only
the incidence rate in 2005-2014 was significantly higher than in
1975-1984. The three most frequently diagnosed cancers among infants
were neuroblastoma, leukemias and CNS tumors. These three cancers
accounted for 21 percent, 18 percent, and 8 percent, respectively, of
all cancers diagnosed among infants. There were large variations in
incidence rates between different ICCC-3 groups ranging from
0.05/100,000 (lymphomas) to 6.3/100,000 (neuroblastoma). The incidence
ratio between male and female among different ICCC-3 groups ranged from
0.82 (retinoblastoma) to 1.17 (hepatic tumors), but no significant
differences in the incidence of infant cancers by sex were observed.