‘1 in 15 children with cancer die from treatment-related complications’

Roughly one in 15 children receiving cancer treatment in low- and middle-income countries, or LMICs, die from treatment-related complications, new research published in The Lancet Oncology said. Treatment-related mortality in LMICs has been reported in up to 45 per cent of children having cancer, while the figure is between 3 and 5 per cent in high-income countries, the meta-analytical study of 501 articles describing treatment-related mortality in paediatric patients, aged 0 to 21 years, with cancer in LMICs said. The study said that although treatment-related mortality has come down in upper-middle-income countries over time, it remains unchanged in LMICs, stressing an urgent need for targeted supportive care interventions to reduce global disparities in childhood cancer survival.