When Childhood Meets Cancer: Tracking Two Decades of Mortality in Pediatric Brain and Blood Malignancies

Pediatric neurological and hematologic malignancies are the leading causes of cancer-related mortality in children. Hematologic malignancies are the most common type of childhood cancer, with leukemia making up nearly 28 % of pediatric cancer cases and lymphomas around 9 % [1]. Brain tumors are the second most frequent, accounting for over 15 % of childhood cancers [2]. Previous studies on mortality trends have mainly focused on specific demographic subgroups; however, national trends over time have not been characterized comprehensively.