Incidence rate, long-term survival, and loss-of-life expectancy of
children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a nation-wide analysis of
Taiwan during 1997-2015
Abstract
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the number one cancer in children
worldwide. Survival with ALL in children has shown a steady improvement
over time with contemporary chemotherapy. This study aimed to determine
the incidence rates and lifetime health impacts of pediatric ALL in
Taiwan. A total of 3,854 patients with the diagnosis of ALL (ICD-9-CM
code: 2040) were collected from the Registry for Catastrophic Illness
(RCI) between 1997 and 2015 to assure the diagnostic accuracy. We
included 2,044 cases for the final analysis. All patients were
followed-up until the end of 2017 by linkage with the National Mortality
Registry of Taiwan. A survival extrapolation method was applied and
validated to estimate the lifetime survival function for life expectancy
(LE) and loss-of-life expectancy (loss-of-life LE). The cohort included
1,222 males and 822 females. The average incidence rates (IRs) of
pediatric ALL from 1997 to 2015 for age strata of <1, 1-4,
5-9, 10-14, 15-18 were 1.24, 3.39, 2.21, 1.56, and 0.97 per 100,000
person-year, respectively. The cumulative incidence rate up to age 18
(CIR0-18) of pediatric ALL increased after 2001, and was more pronounced
in males than females. Most patients received treatments based on the
protocol of Taiwan pediatric oncology group (TPOG)-ALL-97 (23.0%) or
TPOG-ALL-2002 (62.7%). After extrapolation of survival to age 80, we
found LE and loss-of-LE of pediatric ALL were 54.5 and 15.2 years,
respectively. Future studies should explore long-term survival for
different groups at risk of pediatric ALL and impacts of ALL on the
society.