Prevalence of Germ Cell Tumors in a Mexican Tertiary Hospital and the Creation of a Probabilistic Network of Risk Factors

Background: Cancer is the leading cause of death in children around the world. The highest incidence of cancers in children belongs to leukemia and germ cell tumors (GCT); on the other hand, some studies point out that GCT occupies the ninth place of prevalence. Due to their peculiar features and the frequency found in this study, the research on GCT is a matter of great importance. Objectives: To study and describe the epidemiological features of GCT in a tertiary hospital in Veracruz, Mexico. Methods: Descriptive statistics of GCT in a Mexican hospital, arranged by gender, residence area and diagnosis year, and implementation of a Bayesian network of risk factors for this population. Results: Out of 801 pediatric cancers recorded in the study period, 87 were germ cell tumors, ranking this tumor as the second most prevailing cancer in this hospital. The most frequent histological type for these tumors was mixed germ tumor (31.58%). The region of the state of Veracruz presenting the highest number of patients with GCT in this hospital was the central zone with 56.72%. The Bayesian network showed that the location of the tumor had a probabilistic relationship with the histological type and the histological type with patient gender. Also, the geographical zone is directly related to the GCT stage. Conclusions: In this study GCT ranked second in prevalence at this hospital. This number is the highest ever reported in the world. In 2012, 6 cases of GCT were recorded, while in 2015, 11 cases were reported. These numbers show an increase in the GCT prevalence in the population during that time frame. Risk factors, like tumor location and geographical zone, were pinpointed, which, as a whole, can be useful for diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of patients suffering from this pathology.