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在15~30岁之间,每168名美国人中有一人患侵袭性癌症。在这一年龄段,癌症的类型分布是独特的,其发生很少与环境致癌物(一类公认的遗传易感因素)或家族性癌症综合征相关。处在这一年龄组的病人健康保险普及率最低,常常会延误诊断,并且临床试验收效最小。他们有独特的心理需求,并且被关注程度普遍低于其他年龄组。尽管本质上对化学治疗有着相等的承受能力,青少年所实际接受的剂量强度经常低于年幼患者,有时甚至低于中老年患者。15~29岁年龄组曾经比年幼和中老年病人有着更好的总体生存率,但是进展的相对缓慢导致了大多数癌症在这一年龄组的总体生存率低于年幼患者,其中部分预后比年长患者还差。在这一背景下,青少年癌症患者在医疗、心理和经济上都面对着独一无二的生存挑战,这一挑战正开始得到全社会的关注和讨论。
Between the ages of 15 and 30, one in every 168 Americans has an aggressive cancer. At this age, the type of cancer is uniquely distributed and its occurrence is seldom associated with environmental carcinogens (a class of recognized genetic predispositions) or familial cancer syndromes. Patients in this age group have the lowest rates of health insurance coverage, often with delays in diagnosis and with minimal clinical trials. They have unique psychological needs and are generally less well-attended than other age groups. Although essentially equivalent to chemotherapy, adolescents actually receive doses that are often less intense than young patients and sometimes even lower than middle-aged and elderly patients. The 15- to 29-year age group used to have better overall survival rates than younger and middle-aged patients, but the relative slow progress has led to a lower overall survival rate for most cancers in this age group than for younger patients, with partial prognosis Worse than older patients. In this context, adolescents with cancer patients are facing medical, psychological and economic challenges unique to survival, the challenge is beginning to get the attention of the whole society and discussion.