A new study showed that Cyprus has among the world’s highest incidence rates of pediatric cancer, said Prof. Dr Loizos Loizou Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, Pediatric Oncology – Hematology, Medical School, University of Nicosia.
The study examined incident rates and temporal trends between 0 to 19-year-olds from 1988-2017. Leukaemia was the most frequent type of cancer among the sample size, according to the study findings.
Loizou was addressing the 10th International Multi-thematic Scientific Bio-medical Congress, which takes place, at the European University Cyprus on Friday.
The former Director of the Pediatric Oncology – Hematology Clinic of Archbishop Makarios III Hospital, Nicosia and President of the ELPIDA Foundation for children and adolescents affected by cancer or leukaemia said that in Cyprus, the epidemiology of cancers in children and adolescents was never examined before.
Therefore, the pediatric oncology registry of Cyprus (PORCY) was created to study incidence rates among minors.
“We need the information to understand aetiology because only if we understand aetiology, we can practice good prevention,” Loizou said.
The PORCY study found 843 cases for the study period, 42 of cases as the mean number of cases per year and underlined attention on the ASRW (age-standardised rate according to the world standard population) where they found 203 which is the third highest in the world.
Dr Loizou stressed that the four most frequent cancers in Cyprus are leukaemia, lymphomas, specified epithelial tumours and CNS tumours. These four groups accounted for approximately 73% of all cases.
He added that during the 20-year period, there has been no significant variation.
Professor Loizou said the study group decided to explore four possible risk factors; obesity, ionising radiation, arsenic and cancer predisposition syndromes.
Regarding obesity, Loizou said it has significantly increased in the last 20 years, noting that in 2015 obesity was affecting 20% of children in Cyprus, while in 2018 the percentage rose to 43%.
Concerning ionising radiation, he said efforts and campaigns are underway to limit exposure.
Arsenic, Loizou said can be carcinogenic in low concentrations. He added that there is a rising trend, more prevalent in Nicosia, which is higher than in other countries.
For cancer predisposition syndromes, he said these were found in approximately 10% of the examined cases.
Concluding, Loizou said that the study showed that Cyprus has the world’s third-highest incidence rates and ranks just behind Italy and Belgium.
Leukaemias are the most frequent cancers in Cyprus, with lymphomas and thyroid cancers being much more frequent than brain tumours.
For thyroid cancers, incidence rates in Cyprus are among the highest globally, significantly increasing temporal trends affecting mainly females and adolescents from 15–19-year-olds, Dr. Loizou noted.
There are particular patterns in Cyprus that raise aetiology questions and therefore we should concentrate on exploring the genetic environmental and dietary factors in order to obtain novel insights for better prevention and better cancer control activities, Loizou added.