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).