2. Methods
A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted at the CUL from
January 2018 to December 31, 2019. It involved 99 cases of children with
cancer who performed a consultation for a tumor in the pediatric
oncology unit of the CUL during our study period. Prospectively, we
evaluated patients selected from our cohort of 99 cancer-having children
who met the following inclusion criteria: (i) a diagnosis selected at
the oncology unit level after para-clinical or histological
examinations, (ii) the informed consent of parents or guardians duly
signed for them for participation in the study. The data was collected
using a form that included a number of elements: age, gender, age at the
onset of the first sign of the disease, and family history. The
socioeconomic level was categorized into three levels: low, medium and
high according to the classification of (Traissac et al., 1997) In order
to define coherent entities, a grouping of different types of cancers
was carried out on the basis of the location of the tumor according to
the international classification of childhood cancer 3rd edition (ICCC
3) [6]. The para-clinical diagnosis of the tumor was established on
the basis of the operational definition of the pathology anatomy unit of
the CUL. We calculated the gross incidence rates (TIB) in the two age
groups of young children (0-9 years) and adolescents of (9 to 17) that
were estimated by reporting the number of cases observed to the number
of person-years, calculated from the approximate annual population data
of Upper Katanga provided by the Lubumbashi Bio statistical institute.
The study protocol was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of the
University of Lubumbashi (UNILU/CEM/135/2018). The data was entered
using Excel software and their analysis was done using the STATA
software version 12.1 (STATACORP LP, TX, USA).