Finding the cause of childhood cancers is difficult. Adult cancer is likely due to lifestyle factors, but can also be due to genetics, carcinogens, and other environmental factors. Childhood cancer is more likely due to DNA changes early in life, sometimes even before birth. The reason for these changes is not known.⁵

For more information, visit American Cancer Society - Risk Factors and Causes of Childhood Cancer.

Research into childhood cancers continues to work toward finding their causes and the best treatment choices. Little is known about what can be done to keep childhood cancers from happening, making it difficult to give recommendations about preventing them. It is extremely unlikely that there is anything that can be done to keep children from getting cancer.⁶ Only about 5 percent of cancers in children are caused by a genetic mutation passed from parents to their children. Also, very few environmental factors have been linked with these cancers since it is difficult to figure out what children have come in contact with during their early development.⁷

For more information, visit American Cancer Society - Can Childhood Cancers Be Prevented?

Common Symptoms include⁸ :

• An unusual lump.
• Unusual swelling.
• Unexplained paleness and loss of energy.
• Easy bruising.
• Ongoing pain in one area of the body.
• Limping.
• Unexplained fever or illness that doesn’t go away.
• Frequent headaches, often with vomiting.
• Sudden eye or vision changes.
• Sudden unexplained weight loss.

It is more likely that these symptoms are from something other than cancer such as injury or infection. Other symptoms are possible depending on the type of cancer. If your child has any of these symptoms, let your doctor know. 

For more information, please visit American Cancer Society - Finding Cancer in Children.

Treating cancer will depend on the type and stage of cancer. ⁷

Common treatments are:

• Surgery.
• Chemotherapy.
• Radiation therapy.
• Immunotherapy.
• Stem Cell Transplant.

For more information, visit National Cancer Institute - Childhood Cancers.

MiTracking Childhood Cancer Indicators

• Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia Incidence
• Acute Myeloid Leukemia Incidence
• Brain and Central Nervous System Cancer Incidence
• Leukemia Incidence

MiTracking Childhood Cancer Data Can Tell Us

• Cancer rates in Michigan for children under 20 years of age by type of cancer, year, gender, and race.
• If childhood cancer rates are going up or down over time.
• If part of the population is at higher risk of childhood cancer.

MiTracking Childhood Cancer Data Cannot Tell Us

• What causes childhood cancer.
• The total burden of childhood cancer in a population.

Find Out More

Data from the Michigan Cancer Surveillance Program (MCSP) were used to create this dataset through the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), Division of Vital Records and Health Statistics (DVRHS). For additional information, visit the Michigan Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics.

For more data information, visit:

• About These Data (found on the data portal after a query search).
• Metadata (Technical information about the content, quality, and context of the data).

American Cancer Society

Homepage

• Cancer in Children

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

National Environmental Public Health Tracking (Tracking Program)

• Cancer
• Data Explorer

Michigan Cancer Consortium (MCC)

Homepage

Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS)

Inside MDHHS Cancer Statistics

Michigan Cancer Surveillance Program Cancer Statistics

National Cancer Institute

Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer

Cancer in Children and Adolescents

Childhood Cancers

Contact Information

Contact Georgia Spivak at spivakg@michigan.gov for potential cancer clusters or dataset information.