Eur J Cancer

Background: While cancer survival has steadily improved over time for adolescents and young adults (AYAs), previous studies have shown poorer survival in AYAs compared to children with leukaemia and lymphomas. In this study, we provided updated European 5-year relative survival (RS) estimates for AYAs with haematologic malignancies compared to children and assessed improvements in survival over time.

Methods: We used the EUROCARE-6 database, with population-based cancer registries data from 29 European countries. Using the period approach, we calculated 5-year RS for European children (0-14 years) and AYAs (15-39 years) in the follow-up period 2010- 2014 separately for leukaemia, lymphomas, relevant morphological subgroups, age- subgroups, and sex. We estimated 5-year RS time trends between 2000 and 2013.

Results: Compared to children, AYAs had a worse RS for all acute lymphoblastic leukaemias (ALL) and acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), but a better survival for chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML). No differences in RS were observed between children and AYAs with acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL). Compared to children, AYAs had a worse RS for HL and NHL in general, and specifically for lymphoblastic, Burkitt, follicular and NK/T cell lymphomas. In AYAs, RS increased between 2000-2013 for leukaemia overall (by 9% points), ALL (by 11% points), AML (by 8% points) and CML (by 11% points).

Conclusion: Despite increasing European survival for AYAs with haematological malignancies, we showed poorer survival in AYAs than in children for most types of leukaemia and lymphomas. These results reflect that further efforts are needed to improve the survival for this distinctive patient group.