Factors delaying the diagnosis of cancer in children

In this study, an interview questionnaire including the patient's age, the number of siblings as well as the order of the patient among them, the level of education of the parents and the primary complaint was administered to 150 patients and their families. 59% of the patients were younger than 5 years and 66% were males. 73% of the parents were illiterate and only 17% of them were colleague graduate. The primary complaint was fever and/or fatigue in 42% of the patients, mass in abdomen in 21% and lump in the neck in 18.5%, respectively. The patients included in the current study had leukemias and lymphomas [45%] as well as solid tumor [45%]. The delayed diagnosis was represented in an interval of more than three weeks between the first appearance of symptoms or signs and the diagnosis. Only 41 patients were diagnosed within the first 3 weeks of onset of symptoms

Parental factors in childhood malignancies

The current study included 125 children with cancer, in addition to 125 age and sex matched healthy children as a control group. 49% of the cancer patients were coming from rural places versus 35.2% of the controls, this difference was statistically significant. As regards the degree of consanguinity, there was a statistically significant high prevalence of first degree of consanguinity among children of cancer group than the controls; this was the same for children with solid tumors, but not for those with lymphoma and leukemia. The present study showed an increased percentage of parental exposures to pesticides, paints and dyes as well as maternal exposures to irradiation among children in the cancer group. However, this difference was mot statistically significant, may be due to the small number of the study group. However, there was a significant increase of the parental exposure to motor exhaust products in the cancer group