• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.4445-4450
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• 2016

Background: This study explored perspectives of health-care providers on childhood cancer treatment in Kenya. Materials and Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was completed by 104 health-care providers in January and February 2013. Results: Seventy six percent of the health-care providers believed cancer to be curable. More doctors than other health-care providers had this positive opinion (p=0.037). The majority of health-care providers (92%) believed that most children with cancer will not be able to finish their treatment due to financial difficulties. They considered that prosperous highly-educated parents adhere better with treatment (88%) and that doctors adhere better with treatment for prosperous highly-educated parents (79%). According to 74% of health-care providers, quality of care is better for prosperous highly-educated parents (74%). Most health-care providers reported giving more explanation (71%), work with greater accuracy (70%) and use less difficult vocabulary (55%) to prosperous more educated families. Only 34% of health-care providers reported they feel more empathy towards patients from prosperous families. Reasons for non-adherence with the protocol according to health-care providers are: family refuses drugs (85%), inadequate supply of drugs at pharmacy (79%), child looks ill (75%), and financial difficulties of parents (69%). Conclusions: Health-care providers' health beliefs and attitudes differ for patients with families having high versus low socio-economic backgrounds.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.1211-1217
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• 2014

Background: Cancer in infants younger than one year of age represents a unique problem with distinct epidemiological, clinical and genetic characteristics compared with older age groups. No report is yet available from Iran regarding epidemiological and survival rate of cancers diagnosed in this age group. Materials and Methods: The population under study comprised of patients which were diagnosed and admitted to Ali-Asghar hospital between years 1996-2005. In total, 287 infants were included in the retrospective descriptive survey. Patient files were evaluated for age of patient at the time of diagnosis, sex, geographical residence, consanguinity of parents, histological diagnosis, site of cancer involvement, type of therapy, date of last follow-up and cause of death (if applicable). Results: The average age at the time of diagnosis was 7.2 months old. The most frequent malignancy was retinoblastoma (44%), followed by leukemia (19%) and neuroblastoma (10%), with five-year overall survival rates of 77.7%, 41% and 90%, respectively Parents of 40 infants (13.9%) had consanguinity relationships. Conclusions: Although we cannot make any conclusions regarding the incidence of infant cancer subtypes based on this study, survival rates for major types were similar to the developed countries, which signifies strict adherence to standards of care in Ali-Asghar hospital, the main infant cancer care centre in Iran. A Childhood Cancer Registry with high-resolution data collection and also advanced genetic testing is advocated for in-depth analysis of variation in incidence and survival.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.13
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• pp.5167-5169
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• 2014

This study was conducted to describe the characteristics of Hodgkin lymphoma in Iranian children. In a referral center for pediatric oncology (Mofid Hospital) in Tehran, patient data over a 10-year period were retrieved and recorded accordingly. Among 82 cases, 73.2% were male, 26.8% were female, and 70.7% were 5-9 years old. About 40% of patients were in stage III and 42.7% had systemic signs. Cervical nodes were commonly involved (91.5%). The most frequent histological subtype was mixed cellularity. The main hematological features were anemia (47.6%), lymphopenia (20.7%), and eosinophilia (8.7%). Survival rate was 72%, and 8.4% of patients were deceased. A 3% recurrence rate was observed in our patients. A significant relationship was found between the stage of disease and systemic signs (P<0.0005, ${\chi}^2$). Despite diagnosis of Hodgkin lymphoma in many children in Iran being made in higher stages, the mortality rate is relatively low.