Improved survival for children and young adolescents with acute myeloid leukemia: a Dutch study on incidence, survival and mortality

Variation in survival of pediatric acute myeloid leukemia (pAML) over time and between Western European countries exists. The aim of the current study is to assess the progress made for the Dutch pAML population (0–17 years) during 1990–2015, based on trends in incidence, survival and mortality. Data from the population-based Netherlands Cancer Registry were merged with leukemia-related characteristics and treatment specifics from the Dutch Childhood Leukemia Study Group (Dutch Childhood Oncology Group (DCOG) from 2002 onwards). Mortality data (1980–2016) were obtained from the cause of death registry of Statistics Netherlands. Trend analyses were performed over time and by treatment protocol. Between 1990 and 2015, a total of 635 children aged 0–17 years were diagnosed with AML for an average of 25 patients (range 18–36) per year. There was a slight increase in the incidence at age 1–4 years (average annual percentage change (AAPC) of +2.2% per year (95% CI 0.8–3.5, p