Organization of medical care for children with cancer in the Central federal district

Background. planning the organization of medical care for children diagnosed with cancer as well as assessing the quality of care is based on the statistical data analysis. the purpose of the study was to analyze the main parameters characterizing medical care for children with cancer in the central Federal district. material and methods. the reports of the executive authorities in the sphere of health protection of 18 subjects of the Russian Federation included into the central Federal district were analyzed for 2017. Results. the number of children aged 0-17 years was 6 824 049, the number of pediatric oncology departments was 9, the number of hospital beds for children with cancer was 464, the number of bed-days per year was 319.3. the number of physicians providing pediatric cancer care was 91, of them 64 (70.3 %) had a certificate of a pediatric oncologist. in 11 subjects of the Russian Federation, there were no departments of pediatric oncology, and in 1of them, there were no hospital beds for children with cancer. the number of patients newly diagnosed with cancer was 821. the number of patients who died of cancer was 156, of them 66 were diagnosed with cancer in 2017. the cancer incidence rate was 12 per 100,000 children aged 017 years; the mortality rate was 2.3 per 100,000 children aged 017 years. the one-year mortality rate was 8 %. the mean time taken to establish the diagnosis and the time interval between diagnosis and initiation of treatment was unknown, since the reports did not contain precise information. twelve (1.5 %) patients left the territory of the Russian Federation for receiving treatment outside the Russian Federation. conclusion. the information provided in most reports was not statistically reliable. the cancer incidence rates were significantly lower than those in countries with high statistical reliability. For reliable estimation of the number of inpatient beds for children with cancer and the percentage of children referred for the treatment to the federal medical centers, it is necessary to implement a unified database for pediatric oncology in the Russian Federation.