More Medical Research for Childhood Cancer

Cancer is showing up at an alarming rate in children across the United States. Shocking statistics from the American Cancer Institute show that 13,500 new diagnoses of childhood cancer are made each year. That's one out of every 300 boys and one out of every 333 girls who will develop cancer before their 20th birthday, according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology. 

A recent poll by the University of Michigan on Children's Health shows a top priority for more research in the cancer department with children.

The poll found that 76 percent of adults rated research into childhood cancers as "very important," following other health issues such as diabetes shortly behind at 70 percent. Birth defects and other problems came in at 68 percent, according to the poll.

"So many people know a child or family touched by childhood cancer," Matthew M. Davis, MD, MAPP, director of the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health, said in a statement, via RedOrbit. "It remains a leading killer of children under 18 in the United States. The public clearly ranks research into cures and treatments for these often deadly cancers as a top priority."

Fortunately researchers note that the cure for childhood cancer has increased from less than 40 percent to nearly 70 percent over the span of several decades. Yet more and more parents continue to learn of their child's illness.

The poll shows that parents with at least one child in their house under the age of 18 years rated childhood cancers first on the list of research priority. However, vaccine safety and medication safety were ranked higher overall.

These results show a varied response from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. For instance, African-Americans rated diabetes as the highest child health research priority with 87 percent noting that this was "very important." Sickle cell anemia and blood diseases were also rated higher than the overall group, and Hispanic parents rated childhood cancer first  due to infant death, which came in second.