The University of Valencia and the Ministry of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare (MSCBS) have signed a new agreement to maintain and promote the Spanish Registry of Childhood Tumors (RETI), a scientific project developed since 1980 in collaboration between the academic institution and the Spanish Society of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (SEHOP).
Located in the Faculty of Medicine of the Universitat de València, RETI is an information system on childhood cancer in Spain that includes all pediatric hematology and oncology units and has the collaboration of regional cancer registries. The Registry is not a mere database. Its mission is to investigate in order to produce information that contributes to improve the assistance to the child population affected by cancer in Spain, the knowledge of this group of diseases and to collaborate in the study of their causes.
The information on childhood cancer that RETI provides to the Ministry of Health and the Spanish Society of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology has been decisive in assessing the state of childhood cancer care in Spain.
The Spanish Registry of Childhood Tumours can carry out its goals by having coverage of more than 90% of childhood cancer in Spain. In 2016, the Ministry of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare recognised RETI as a Registry of Interest for the National Health System. The agreement between the University of Valencia and the Ministry of Health to maintain and promote the RETI was signed this past November 29.
The objectives of the Registry are materialised in knowing and analysing the survival results of pediatric oncology in Spain, as well as regional differences and their position in the international context. It also investigates geographical differences and temporal trends in the incidence of childhood cancer; the prevalence of childhood cancer survivors and the annual report on the state of childhood cancer in Spain. In addition, RETI collaborates in studies on the causes of cancer in childhood.
The Spanish Registry of Childhood Tumours also disseminates its information to society in general, especially the Federation of Parents of Children with Cancer, and contributes to the knowledge of this disease through academic scientific publications.
RETI activities are developed both nationally and within the framework of European databases and projects and their publications have received more than 1,000 citations (according to the Web of Science) during the last year.
Images:
Incidence of childhood cancer in Spain (2000-2011) and European countries by types of tumours. Rate standardised by the world population (ASRW) 0-14 years.
RETI: Evolution of the 5-year survival of the diagnosis, for cohorts of incidence date, for all Spain, 0-14 years, 1980-2011.
