Germany: High child cancer survival rate

COLOGNE, Germany, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Researchers who evaluate healthcare in Germany report high survival rates for childhood cancer.

The researchers from the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care in Cologne, Germany, also found some aspects of infrastructure such as a parent staying with a child in the hospital or the value of music therapy in the management of the disease, but the researchers could not draw a general conclusion because there were so few studies.

The study, commissioned by the German government to present a scientific evaluation, analyzed 106 therapy-optimizing, cohort and cross-sectional studies along with other information such as official statistics. More than 80 percent of children with cancer in Germany for 2000 to 2004 survived at least five years with 90 percent of children with cancer receiving treatment in Germany in therapy-optimizing studies, indicating the researchers said, a high quality of care.

The findings have been published in a final report after preliminary results last March were reviewed, commented on and revised and sent as a final report.