SEER Data-Based Precision Estimate of Age-Specific Pediatric Mortality Variation by Cancer Type

Oregon Convention Center 

Pediatric cancers represent a group of heterogeneous and serious diseases with apparent
variations in disease etiology, treatment response, and mortality risk. Histology-based cancer types are the
primary drivers of survival disparities, with patient characteristics at diagnosis such as race-ethnicity, sex,
age, and geographic location playing secondary roles. Variations in cancer-specific survival based on age
at diagnosis could enhance overall survival by facilitating precise age-specific treatments. We utilized the
frailty model on a SEER dataset of 101,328 pediatric cancer patients diagnosed and monitored between
1975 and 2016 to ascertain age-specific survival rates for all cancer types, while adjusting for
heterogeneity in mortality risk across patient characteristics and diagnosis years. Cancer types including
ALL, AML, Brain, CNS, Liver, Endocrine, Genital system, Lymphoma nodal, Oral cavity, Respiratory
system, Skin, and Soft tissue showed substantial variation in mortality risk. The use of a large dataset and
application of appropriate methods provided estimations with enhanced precision.

Pediatric Cancers

Age-Specific

Precision

Heterogeneous

Frailty Model

SEER 

Section on Statistics in Epidemiology