Childhood cancer epidemiology based on cancer registry’s data of Fars province of Iran

    Introduction: Childhood cancers are very rare diseases and accounting for about one percent of all cancers, also it is one of the main causes of death among children. The aim of this paper was to ascertain of childhood cancers epidemiology in Fars province.   Materials and Methods: In this epidemiological study that Fars province cancer registry was used, frequency distribution of childhood cancers in less than 19 year old in 2001up to 2008 was evaluated and incidence rates were calculated per 1000,000 people a year. Data were analyzed by running SPSS software, version 16 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL) and M.S. Excel version 2007.   Results: Out of 1610 registered new cancer cases that were resident of Fars province, blood cell cancers were most common type of cancers. 57 % of cases were male and 15-18 year old age group in comparison to other groups has been the most frequent (30.7%). The mean age of cases at diagnose time was 10.3 years old. Over in eight years period, lowest and highest age standardized incidence rate was 64 (year 2001) and 235 (year 2006) cases per every one million person, respectively.   Conclusion: Based on this paper’s results, and despite of our prospect, childhood cancer incidence rate in less than 19 year age in Fars province was similar to developed countries.