Stage at Diagnosis and International Survival Variation in Childhood Tumors in the BENCHISTA Study

Are differences in tumor stage at diagnosis associated with population-level survival disparities for 6 childhood solid tumors across regions?This cohort study with 9883 cases from 73 cancer registries in 27 countries found that 3-year overall survival decreased with higher tumor stage at diagnosis. Regional survival differences were partly associated with stage variation, notably in neuroblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, and medulloblastoma, but not Ewing sarcoma.The study highlights geographic disparities in survival, stressing the need for early diagnosis, precise staging, and stronger collaboration between clinicians and cancer registries to understand survival gaps.

Corresponding Author: Laura Botta, PhD, Evaluative Epidemiology Unit, Department of Epidemiology and Data Science, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori di Milano, Via Giacomo Venezian, 1 20133 Milan, Italy (laura.botta@istitutotumori.mi.it).

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