Uploaded July 2019 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Childhood cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in children under the age of 19 in the United States. Learn more sobering childhood facts here:
10 Sobering Facts about Childhood Cancer
1. Leukemia, a cancer that lives in bone marrow and blood cells, causes 30% of all childhood cancer cases. It is the most common type of childhood cancer.
2. Brain and spinal cord tumors are the second most common kind of childhood cancer, and they generally start to grow in the lower part of the brain.
3. Certain genetic mutations, such as Down syndrome, can increase the likelihood a child will get cancer.
4. Most childhood cancers are caused by random gene mutations, meaning there is no way to prevent cancer before it begins to grow.
5. Cancer is the leading cause of death from disease in children.
6. Children with cancer are diagnosed at the average age of six.
7. Sixty percent of childhood cancer survivors experience negative side effects in their later years, such as infertility, heart problems, and additional types of cancers.
8. In the 1970s, chemotherapy became the most popular way to treat cancer, and doctors began to offer patients with leukemia a better chance of survival. Chemotherapy is now the most common treatment for children with cancer.
9. A study of Norwegian families with a child who had cancer found no major link to a higher divorce rate between parents. The only exception were parents with a child diagnosed with Wilms tumors, the most treatable type of childhood cancer, who did exhibit an increased risk for divorce after diagnosis.
10. Child mortality rates from cancer have declined almost 60% in the past 40 years; on average, 84.8% of children diagnosed with cancer will survive.
For more Childhood Cancer facts, see our article here: factretriever.com/childhood-cancer-facts
Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel for more interesting Childhood Cancer facts: youtube.com/@FactRetriever
Childhood cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in children under the age of 19 in the United States. Learn more sobering childhood facts here:
10 Sobering Facts about Childhood Cancer
1. Leukemia, a cancer that lives in bone marrow and blood cells, causes 30% of all childhood cancer cases. It is the most common type of childhood cancer.
2. Brain and spinal cord tumors are the second most common kind of childhood cancer, and they generally start to grow in the lower part of the brain.
3. Certain genetic mutations, such as Down syndrome, can increase the likelihood a child will get cancer.
4. Most childhood cancers are caused by random gene mutations, meaning there is no way to prevent cancer before it begins to grow.
5. Cancer is the leading cause of death from disease in children.
6. Children with cancer are diagnosed at the average age of six.
7. Sixty percent of childhood cancer survivors experience negative side effects in their later years, such as infertility, heart problems, and additional types of cancers.
8. In the 1970s, chemotherapy became the most popular way to treat cancer, and doctors began to offer patients with leukemia a better chance of survival. Chemotherapy is now the most common treatment for children with cancer.
9. A study of Norwegian families with a child who had cancer found no major link to a higher divorce rate between parents. The only exception were parents with a child diagnosed with Wilms tumors, the most treatable type of childhood cancer, who did exhibit an increased risk for divorce after diagnosis.
10. Child mortality rates from cancer have declined almost 60% in the past 40 years; on average, 84.8% of children diagnosed with cancer will survive.
For more Childhood Cancer facts, see our article here: factretriever.com/childhood-cancer-facts
Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel for more interesting Childhood Cancer facts: youtube.com/@FactRetriever
