Incidence and survival of childhood cancer in the French islands of Reunion and Mayotte (2005-2011)

- All the comments of the reviewers were considered, taking into account the word-count limitation of 2000 words.
- We give more details about the socio-cultural, demographic and sanitary characteristics of the 2 islands, notably to justify the separate analysis for Mayotte and Reunion Island (INTRODUCTION).
- Population data used for analysis are described with more details. The reasons for the choice of the overall survival rather than the relative survival are justified. Details of the survival analysis (vital status, lost to follow-up, …) are added (MATERIAL and METHODS).
- Comparisons of the ASRs between the 2 islands are added (CIF). The 2 main tables are simplified as suggested. SIRs are replaced in the section Results and added in the two main tables. The two figures are replaced by a table with data quality indices and a table with 1-, 3- and 5-year overall survivals (RESULTS). Reasons for the differences highlighted are more detailed (DISCUSSION).

The aim of this study is to describe childhood cancer incidence and survival in the French islands of Reunion and Mayotte for the period 2005-2011. Data were taken from the population-based Cancer Registry of Reunion Island. All incident cases of malignant tumours and benign tumours of the Central Nervous System diagnosed between 2005 and 2011 in children under the age of 15 and living in Reunion or Mayotte were included. A total of 236 cases were registered (176 in Reunion, 60 in Mayotte). Age-standardised incidence rates (ASRs, world standard) for all cancers were 125.0 and 101.8 per million for Reunion and Mayotte, respectively. ASRs for the main cancer groups were lower than those described in mainland France for the same period. The 5-year overall survival rate for all patients was 78.5% (95%CI 71.9- 83.7), slightly lower than that reported in mainland France.