Search

Introduction: The number of adolescents with a severe chronic disease has increased in high-income countries due to improvements in the prognosis of childhood-onset chronic conditions. The transition from childhood to adulthood is a critical period that may be associated with increased mortality and morbidity. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of adolescents with a long-term disease (LTD) in France and assess their mortality and hospitalization risks relative to the general population. Materials and methods: We extracted a population-based cohort from the French national health insurance database that included 61,119 subjects who reached 14 years of age between 2005 and 2014. LTDs are diagnosed by patients’ physicians and then confirmed and registered by a physician of the national health insurance system. We assessed mortality and hospitalizations using data of patients who were between 14 and 21 years-old. Results: Among 14-year-old adolescents, 3.30% (95% confidence interval: 3.16–3.44) had a LTD. Their mortality rate between the ages of 14 and 21 years was 20.9/10,000 person-years (13.7–32.1) versus 1.9 (1.5–2.5) for adolescents without a LTD. Mortality was higher in males than females in youths without a LTD, but not in those with a LTD. We found a similar pattern for the risk of hospitalization for an external cause. The five-year probability of hospitalization was 61.8% among youths with a LTD versus 42.7% for those without. The rate of planned hospitalizations sharply fell at 19 years-of-age among youths with a LTD, whereas the rate of unplanned hospitalizations remained stable. Conclusion: The 3% of youths with a LTD have ten-fold higher mortality than those without and a high risk of hospitalization. The decrease in the rate of planned hospitalizations at age 19 among youths with a LTD may indicate differences in medical practice after transfer to adult care or a break in medical care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In Korea, cancer is the third leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults (AYAs). However, cancer incidence and survival trends among AYAs (15–29 years) have never been studied in Korea. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the incidence and relative survival rates and their trends among AYAs in Korea. Materials and Methods: Cancer incidence data from 1999–2010 were obtained from the Korea Central Cancer Registry (KCCR). Each cancer was classified into subgroups according to the National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) AYA site recode. Percent distributions, age-specific incidence rates, age-standardized incidence rates per million, and annual percent changes (APCs) were calculated for AYAs according to sex. Five-year relative survival rates were estimated for cases diagnosed between 1993 and 2010 and followed up to 2011. Results: The age-standardized incidence rates of all cancers combined were 196.4 and 367.8 per million for males and females, respectively (male-to-female (M/F) ratio: 0.5). The age-standardized incidence rates increased from 208.7 per million in 1999 to 396.4 per million in 2010, and the APC was 6.3% (P<0.001). The five most common cancers among AYAs were thyroid carcinoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, stomach carcinoma, breast carcinoma, and acute myeloid leukemia. In males, the 5-year relative survival rate improved, from 46.5% in 1993–1995 to 75.9% in 2006–2010. In females, the 5-year relative survival rate also improved, from 66.7% in 1993–1995 to 89.1% in 2006–2010. Conclusions: Our study showed increases in cancer incidence and improvements in the 5-year relative survival rate among Korean AYAs. This study also provides additional data regarding temporal and geographic trends in cancer that may enhance future efforts to identify factors affecting cancer incidence and responses to treatment among AYAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]