International variations in neuroblastoma incidence in children and adolescents

In order to compare the subtype distribution of neuroblastoma and other peripheral nervous cell tumours in children and adolescents between Japan and other countries, we extracted information on cancer incidence in children and adolescents from the third volume of the International Incidence of Childhood Cancer series (IICC-3) (1). The IICC-3 reports the number or incidence rates of cancers diagnosed in childhood and adolescence from cancer registries (regional or national) worldwide. We analysed neuroblastoma and other peripheral nervous cell tumours incidence in four countries in Asia (Japan, China, the Republic of Korea and Thailand), two countries in Africa (Egypt and Uganda), four countries in the Americas (North: the USA and Canada; Latin and Caribbean: Brazil and Colombia), three countries in Europe (the UK, France and Germany) and two countries in Oceania (Australia and New Zealand). Information from the Republic of Korea, USA, UK, Australia and New Zealand were obtained at the national level, and those from the other countries were extracted from one or multiple regional cancer registries. The years of incidence included in the analyses varied from country to country, ranging from 1990 to 2014, with the shortest being 12 years (Egypt: 1999–2010, UK: 2000–11) and the longest being 24 years (Japan and China: both 1990–2013). In this study, we compared the incidence and proportional distribution of neuroblastoma subtype in children (0–14 years old) and adolescents (15–19 years old) between these countries.