Common Types of Childhood Cancer
Surprisingly, the most common types of cancer that affect children are not those that impact adults. While this certainly isn’t all of the types of cancer that children suffer from, some of the common types include:
There are a few other types of cancer that children are commonly diagnosed with, as well as some rare ones that are typically only found with adults.
Leukemia
Leukemia is a general term used to describe cancer found in the blood and the bone marrow. These types of cancers are the most common types of childhood cancer, and account for 28% of all childrens’ cancer.
Brain and spinal cord tumors
Making up around 26% of cases of children with cancer, brain and spinal cord tumors are the second most common type of childhood cancer.
Neuroblastoma
Estimates indicate that around 6% of childhood cancers are of the neuroblastoma type. These typically start early in the nerve cells of a developing fetus or embryo.
Why Do Children Get Cancer?
Around 420,000 children currently live in the United States with cancer, with thousands more around the world.
One of the first questions that come to parents of children with cancer is what could we have done to prevent this?
Unfortunately, childhood cancer is not well understood. In adults, we may be able to attribute certain cancers to certain environmental or lifestyle factors (i.e. smoking, alcohol consumption, dietary choices), in children, this isn’t as easy.
In fact, for many children with cancer, it is the result of mutations or cancer-causing genetic changes. These tend to occur by chance and affect about 8% of children who end up with cancer.
How to Prevent Childhood Cancer?
For these mutations that cause cancer, there’s unfortunately nothing that can be done to prevent it from occurring. However, there are some ways that we can minimize our children’s risk of cancer, and many of these tips will help us to remain cancer-free, too.
We hope that you found this article useful and that you’re not dealing with childhood cancer for your family or someone you know. These tips, while directed for children, can be used by anyone to live a healthier and more fulfilled life.