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ABSTRACT: Objective
To investigate in a large global sample of patients with retinoblastoma whether sex predilection exists for this childhood eye cancer.Methods
A cross-sectional analysis including 4351 treatment-naive retinoblastoma patients from 153 countries who presented to 278 treatment centers across the world in 2017. The sex ratio (male/female) in the sample was compared to the sex ratio at birth by means of a two-sided proportions test at global level, country economic grouping, continent, and for selected countries.Results
For the entire sample, the mean retinoblastoma sex ratio, 1.20, was higher than the weighted global sex ratio at birth, 1.07 (p < 0.001). Analysis at economic grouping, continent, and country-level demonstrated differences in the sex ratio in the sample compared to the ratio at birth in lower-middle-income countries (n = 1940), 1.23 vs. 1.07 (p = 0.019); Asia (n = 2276), 1.28 vs. 1.06 (p < 0.001); and India (n = 558), 1.52 vs. 1.11 (p = 0.008). Sensitivity analysis, excluding data from India, showed that differences remained significant for the remaining sample (χ2 = 6.925, corrected p = 0.025) and for Asia (χ2 = 5.084, corrected p = 0.036). Excluding data from Asia, differences for the remaining sample were nonsignificant (χ2 = 2.205, p = 0.14).Conclusions
No proof of sex predilection in retinoblastoma was found in the present study, which is estimated to include over half of new retinoblastoma patients worldwide in 2017. A high male to female ratio in Asian countries, India in specific, which may have had an impact on global-level analysis, is likely due to gender discrimination in access to care in these countries, rather than a biological difference between sexes.
SUBMITTER: Fabian ID
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9307655 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Fabian Ido Didi ID Khetan Vikas V Stacey Andrew W AW Allen Foster Ademola-Popoola Dupe S DS Berry Jesse L JL Cassoux Nathalie N Chantada Guillermo L GL Hessissen Laila L Kaliki Swathi S Kivelä Tero T TT Luna-Fineman Sandra S Munier Francis L FL Reddy M Ashwin MA Rojanaporn Duangnate D Blum Sharon S Sherief Sadik T ST Staffieri Sandra E SE Theophile Tuyisabe T Waddell Keith K Ji Xunda X Astbury Nicholas J NJ Bascaran Covadonga C Burton Matthew M Zondervan Marcia M Bowman Richard R
Eye (London, England) 20210716 8
<h4>Objective</h4>To investigate in a large global sample of patients with retinoblastoma whether sex predilection exists for this childhood eye cancer.<h4>Methods</h4>A cross-sectional analysis including 4351 treatment-naive retinoblastoma patients from 153 countries who presented to 278 treatment centers across the world in 2017. The sex ratio (male/female) in the sample was compared to the sex ratio at birth by means of a two-sided proportions test at global level, country economic grouping, ...[more]