Sex, gender, and retinoblastoma: analysis of 4351 patients from 153 countries
Issued Date
2022-08-01
Resource Type
ISSN
0950222X
eISSN
14765454
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85110743992
Pubmed ID
34272514
Journal Title
Eye (Basingstoke)
Volume
36
Issue
8
Start Page
1571
End Page
1577
Rights Holder(s)
SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Eye (Basingstoke) Vol.36 No.8 (2022) , 1571-1577
Suggested Citation
Fabian I.D. Sex, gender, and retinoblastoma: analysis of 4351 patients from 153 countries. Eye (Basingstoke) Vol.36 No.8 (2022) , 1571-1577. 1577. doi:10.1038/s41433-021-01675-y Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/87275
Title
Sex, gender, and retinoblastoma: analysis of 4351 patients from 153 countries
Author(s)
Author's Affiliation
Ramathibodi Hospital
Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona
The Children's Hospital, Aurora
Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine
School of Medicine
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Institut Curie
Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne
Sankara Nethralaya
L.V. Prasad Eye Institute India
Mohammed V University in Rabat
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust
Helsinki University Hospital
Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
University of Washington
Keck School of Medicine of USC
University of Ilorin
The Royal London Hospital
Tel Aviv University
Université de Lausanne (UNIL)
Kabgayi Eye Unit
Ruharo Eye Hospital
Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona
The Children's Hospital, Aurora
Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine
School of Medicine
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Institut Curie
Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne
Sankara Nethralaya
L.V. Prasad Eye Institute India
Mohammed V University in Rabat
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust
Helsinki University Hospital
Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
University of Washington
Keck School of Medicine of USC
University of Ilorin
The Royal London Hospital
Tel Aviv University
Université de Lausanne (UNIL)
Kabgayi Eye Unit
Ruharo Eye Hospital
Other Contributor(s)
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.