Background
A study was conducted in Sierra Vista, Arizona and Churchill County, Nevada
concerning an increase in childhood cancer cases between the age of 0.8 and 12.8 years old.
Between the two locations, 14 children with Leukemia were chosen to take place in this study.
The children were compared based off of demographics, urinary and blood levels (metals,
tungsten, pesticides, etc.) as well as location of residence compared to the rest of the U.S.
Population. Variables were used in the determination of whether or not environmental exposure
was the cause of the increase in cancer related cases among children and to determine if this was
indeed a cancer cluster. The results indicated that these findings were not a cancer cluster, but
yet individual cancer cases.
Discussion
The statistical test that was done for table 3 was the geometric mean in order to compare
the three groups. This type of test takes the average of a set of numbers. It is derived by taking
the nth root of the product of n numbers. The geometric means of urinary levels of tungsten in
Sierra Vista, AZ and Churchill County, NV were compared with the levels in the U.S.
population. The test determined that only 20% of the children in AZ had higher levels of
tungsten and about half had levels below the national average. The data for Sierra Vista and
Churchill County are not statistically significant; however, the data for the U.S. Population is
statistically
The CDC estimates that each year, more than eight million people are diagnosed, and consequently died from cancer, and this statistic was even higher in the 1950s. During this period, little was known of cancer’s effects on the
When it comes to cancer, so much of the world’s knowledge is based on statistics. For example, each day forty-six children, or more than two full classrooms of kids, are diagnosed with cancer and one out of every three hundred thirty people will develop cancer before the age of twenty. The simplest and most important of these statistics is this, “Cancer is the number one cause of death by disease in children.” Pediatric cancer takes the lives of more people than the number of children who die from asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis and pediatric AIDS combined! About one thousand three hundred and eighty children are expected to die from cancer this year alone. Although the cure rate of children with cancer is steadily increasing for most childhood cancers over the past five years, the number of children who will die is overwhelming and unacceptable.
in Georgia (169.6 per 100,000) since 2007 but on the rise in Macon-Bibb County since 2010; the
1. Most cancers incidence peak among children occurs during the first year of life. Some of the most well-known nationwide childhood cancers are leukemia, brain cancer, and other central nervous system cancers. The side effects of treatment, which range from heart disease to brain
As listed in Wong the “cardinal symptoms of cancer in children are unusual mass or swelling, unexplained paleness and loss of energy, sudden tendency to bruise, persistent, localized pain or limping, prolonged, unexplained fever or illness, frequent headaches often with vomiting, sudden eye or vision changes and excessive, rapid weight loss.” When completing an assessment of the child the healthcare work should be able to incorporate these signs to help them complete the necessary physical assessment and also lab or diagnostic testing.
According to the American Cancer Society, there are sixteen major types of childhood cancers and over 100 subtypes. Leukemia and Lymphoma cancer are the most common cancers that children get at a young age. Everyday forty-six kids are diagnose with childhood cancer and seven children die every day. Childhood cancer kills more kids than Cystic Fibrosis, AIDS, and asthma combined! The worst part about childhood cancer is that the treatment side affects can last a lifetime for these kids. People do not understand that childhood cancer only gets a small percentage of the budget for all cancers. National Cancer Institute budget is around $4.9 billion and only 4% of that sum goes towards childhood cancer.
What is clear from the research is that both Kentucky and Pennsylvania have a large percentage of the
Through the study, I have found out that there is minimum research in pediatric cancer and many parents from poor families find it difficult to pay for medical fee. In addition, funding for research will be effective in curbing the effects of cancer in children even as they transit to adulthood.
I. Open with Impact: About 15,270 children ages 19 or under will be diagnosed with cancer this year. (National Cancer Institute, 2017)
- Fact/evidence to support reason #1: The second highest kind of cancer in children is brain cancer.
Every year thousands of children, in the United States alone, are diagnosed with some form of cancer and more cases are occurring each year. When thinking about cancer we often associate it with adult cancers. Throughout the year there are certain days and months dedicated to supporting awareness of specific types of cancers that mainly occur in adults. Although there is some focus on childhood cancer, it does not get as much attention as with adult cancer, because of this there is also less focus on funding childhood cancer research. With a rise of pediatric cancer diagnoses, researchers should take advantage of the modern day technology available and focus some of the attention away from adult cancers and begin to put efforts into finding
The causal relationship for the high rate of cancer is from the student’s exposure while attending school and extracurricular activities that took place on school grounds.
As established in the National Cancer Institute, “Cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide for children and adolescents in America, accounting for more than 91,250 children that lose their lives to this disease” (National Cancer Institute). Cancer is not considered a terminal illness, but more of a chronic illness because of the intense treatment that the individual has to endure. As a result of this treatment the chances of survival for children suffering from pediatric cancer has increased around 80 percent. The increment in the survival rate has made it possible for many parents to not have to go through the acceptance that they are about to lose their child to a terminal illness, but have coping strategies that will make them adapt to the fear of the reoccurrence of that illness. This illness has a great impact on the patient as well as the family because not only do they have to adapt to this illness physically, but also mentally. Research has shown that there are both short term and long term effects that come into effect when the child is both in treatment and also years after the treatment. The type of cancers that these adolescents have to endure range from leukemia, brain tumors and other cancerous tumors that have appeared in recent medical studies. These tumors can either be benignant, an acute case that is non-cancerous or malignant, a cancerous case that will need intense treatment over an extended period of time.While many would say there is more of a
When a parent takes their child to the doctor the last thing they want to hear is that their child has cancer. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for a child to be diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, also known as ALL. Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia is one of the most common forms of childhood cancer, and “makes up approximately 25% of cancer diagnoses among children under 15 years old” (3). Children under five years of age are at the most risk of developing ALL. Since it is an acute form of cancer once the onset has begun the disease quickly begins to worsen, therefore patients must seek treatment as soon as possible. “ALL is different than other diseases in that it is not just a single disease but also rather a group of related diseases with different subtypes”(1). This uniqueness causes the treatment of ALL to depend on the subtypes the patient has, therefore each
Cancer, one of the most feared words in our vocabulary of this time, especially in childhood (Druker 1). Most people when thinking of “childhood cancer” envision very young children, although a “Nation Institute of Health Policy concerning inclusion of children in clinical research defines children as being younger than twenty-one years of age while the Food and Drug Administration considers children to be fifteen years and younger” (Ries 158). That being said, most cancers incidence peak among children occurs during the first year of life (Gurney 149). Some of the most well-known nationwide childhood cancers are leukemia, brain cancer, and other central nervous system cancers (oeconline 1). In conjunction, “the side effects of treatment,