Cancer among children and adolescents: relationship with the poles of agricultural irrigation in the state of Ceara, Brazil/Cancer infantojuvenil: relacao com os polos de irrigacao agricola no estado do Ceara, Brasil

The scope of this article is to assess the magnitude and the spatial and temporal trend of cancer in children and adolescents and its association with the agricultural irrigation poles in the State of Ceara from 2000 to 2012. This involves ecological research on morbidity and mortality indicators in the State Ceara between 2000 and 2012. The study population was made up of children and adolescents aged from 0 to 19 years diagnosed with cancer. Information was collected in the Hospital Cancer Register and in the Mortality Information System. A total of 3274 cases were treated in CACONs and UNACONs and 2,080 deaths due to neoplasms were identified. In the association of cancer cases with agricultural irrigation poles, it was detected that the highest concentrations of cases are in micro-regions that have irrigation poles. The microregions with the highest concentrations of child and adolescent cancer coincide with the agricultural irrigation poles. Key words Cancer, Child, Adolescent, Agrochemicals O objetivo deste artigo e avaliar a magnitude, a tendencia espacial e temporal do cancer infantojuvenil e sua associacao com os polos de irrigacao agricola, no estado do Ceara, de 2000 a 2012. Pesquisa ecologica sobre os indicadores de morbidade e mortalidade do estado do Ceara de 2000 a 2012. Populacao do estudo foi composta por criancas e adolescentes com idade de 0 a 19 anos e com diagnostico de cancer. Foram coletadas informacoes no Registro Hospitalar de Cancer e no Sistema de Informacao sobre Mortalidade. Foram atendidos 3.274 casos em CACONs e UNACONs e 2.080 obitos por neoplasias. Na associacao dos casos de cancer com os polos de irrigacao agricola, percebeu-se que as maiores concentracoes de casos estao nas microrregioes que apresentam polos de irrigacao. As microrregioes com maiores concentracoes de casos de cancer infantojuvenil coincidem com os polos de irrigacao agricola. Palavras-chave Cancer, Crianca, Adolescente, Agroquimicos