Ferrari Andrea, Aricò Maurizio, Dini Giorgio, Rondelli Roberto, Porta Fulvio
Pediatric Oncology Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Milan, Italy.
Pediatr Hematol Oncol. 2012 Feb;29(1):55-61. doi: 10.3109/08880018.2011.572963. Epub 2011 Jun 27.
A limited proportion of adolescents with cancer currently receives treatment at pediatric oncology centers and this factor is considered one of the possible explanations for the lack of improvement in survival trends observed over the years in this age group. The adoption of inflexible upper age limits for admitting patients to pediatric units may help to explain this situation. This paper reports the results of a national survey on adolescents' access to, and age limits adopted by, Italian pediatric oncology centers, briefly discussing possible actions to bridge the gap in adolescents' access to care. The analysis showed a great variability in the upper age limits adopted at Italian pediatric oncology centers; in many cases age limits are set at 16, 15, or even 14 years. As major finding, a correlation was documented between age limits and number of adolescents treated in the pediatric centers. In principle, this finding should suggest that increasing the upper age limit may result in an increase of the access of adolescents in pediatric oncology centers.
目前，仅有一小部分患癌青少年在儿科肿瘤中心接受治疗，这一因素被认为是多年来该年龄组生存率未见改善的可能原因之一。儿科病房采用严格的收治年龄上限或许可以解释这种情况。本文报告了一项关于意大利儿科肿瘤中心青少年就诊机会及所采用年龄限制的全国性调查结果，并简要讨论了缩小青少年就医差距的可能行动。分析表明，意大利儿科肿瘤中心所采用的年龄上限差异很大；在许多情况下，年龄限制设定为16岁、15岁甚至14岁。作为主要发现，研究记录了年龄限制与儿科中心治疗的青少年数量之间的相关性。原则上，这一发现表明提高年龄上限可能会增加青少年在儿科肿瘤中心的就诊机会。
