World Cancer Day | Peru is one of the 5 countries with the highest mortality from childhood leukemia in Latin America

A study published in the journal BMC Pediatrics determined that between 2013 and 2017, the highest childhood leukemia mortality rates in 15 countries in the region were recorded in Venezuela, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Mexico and Peru.

Thus, our country is among the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean, which is the main cause of death related to cancer in children in the region.

“There was no current data available [respecto a la mortalidad por leucemia infantil], and the data that was available did not include Peru or Venezuela. We include 15 Latin American countries. In our analyzes we saw that ”, details the Peruvian doctor Smith Torres Román, main author of this study and founder of LAN-CANCER.

The investigation also found an upward trend in mortality in the country (1.4%) in children of both sexes. Of the countries analyzed, only Puerto Rico experienced a significant reduction in mortality from childhood leukemia. The data considered correspond to the period from 2000 to 2017.

“What is done is to standardize mortality rates [de todos los países], through gross deaths and population, because the numbers of two countries whose population is different, such as Peru and Brazil, for example, cannot be directly compared. After achieving these standardized mortality rates, we can only ”details the expert.

In addition, the team made projections on mortality from childhood leukemia and determined that it “will increase in Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Peru and Uruguay by 2030.”

“In Peru, in 2015, 2 out of every 100,000 children died; but if this is not put a brake, for the We saw that mortality in girls is 1.7 per 100,000, but by 2030 it will increase to 2.5, almost one point more”warns the doctor Smith Torres Román, associate researcher at the Universidad Científica del Sur.

“There are many factors associated with mortality from childhood leukemia, including overweight and obesity, which are also problems in our country, especially in children; there is also malnutrition which, although it has decreased, continues to have a high prevalence in Peru. We plan to evaluate these factors in future studies”ends.

Factors associated with higher mortality

Peruvian medical researchers identified in a study published in the Journal of Cancer Policy a series of factors of the Peruvian health system that were associated with a higher mortality of children with leukemia in the country and show that

The doctors determined that a long travel time to a health center was associated with higher mortality in children with lymphoid leukemia, as well as the availability of primary care physicians and a high density of hospitals in their care area.

Regarding minors who had myeloid leukemia, the main factor identified was the density of hospitals near their place of residence.

To reach these conclusions, the researchers evaluated the association of these health system factors with childhood leukemia mortality in Peruvian children and adolescents aged 0 to 19 years. For which they used data from the National Death Information System (Sinadef), between 2017 and 2019.

“We were able to realize that mortality is associated with different factors, one of them is access to health […] Childhood leukemia is a problem that affects not only the children of Lima, but of various departments that are suffering the consequences of not having an early diagnosis and timely access to specialized treatments in hospitals such as INEN or Rebagliati. This causes many children to die prematurely. So, we must put a stop to it, through the Ministry of Health and the Childhood Cancer Law “says the doctor co-author of the study Smith Torres Román.

The authors of the research clarify that the association between a higher density of doctors or hospitals and infant mortality due to leukemia, “suggests a disparity in the identification and treatment of cases between the areas with the best and worst care capacity.” In other words, this conclusion does not mean that mortality is higher in those areas, but rather that cases can be identified, unlike those places where there is less access to health.

In addition, Bryan Valcarcel, lead author of the study and a graduate of the Universidad Científica del Sur, explains that the high mortality rates in provinces with prolonged travel time to a health center indicate difficulty in drug distribution. “This means that families with affected children have to relocate to areas close to the treatment center, increasing the economic and psychosocial burden, factors that can negatively influence patient management and consequently increase mortality in this population.”

“We are providing data so that early decisions can be made and thus avoid so many potentially preventable deaths from childhood leukemia,” adds Dr. Smith Torres Román.

To address this problem, the researchers recommend improving the distribution of leukemia treatment in places far from medical centers, improving the supply of drugs and adherence to treatment.