{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.03434684684684685, 'fraction_numerical': 0.018581081081081082, 'mean_word_length': 5.14878892733564, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Preventing COVID-19, Saving Lives in Lower-Income Countries.

in Children in Low-Income Countries Children with retinoblastoma, the most common childhood eye cancer, are nearly 17 times more likely to die within 3 years when they live in low-income countries rather than in high-income countries, according to a study in The Lancet Global Health. More advanced disease, older age at diagnosis, and less access to specialized care may contribute to the disparity. The prospective study involved 4064 children in 149 countries who were diagnosed with retinoblastoma in 2017—about half of new cases worldwide that year. In low-income countries, just 57.3% survived 3 years compared with 99.5% in highincome countries. Overall, 12.8% died, of whom about 94% died from retinoblastoma or treatment complications. At diagnosis, about 43% of children in low-income countries had cancer that spread beyond the eye compared with less than 1% in high-income countries. Extraocular tumor increased the risk of dying by nearly 9-fold compared with early intraocular disease. Up to age 3 years, older age at diagnosis also was associated with increased mortality risk. Even so, low income remained a major independent risk factor for death. Although enucleation surgery and intravenous chemotherapy were almost universally available, limited access in low-income countries to specialized technologies, such as magnetic resonance imaging, targeted chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and focal treatments, may increase mortality risk. More aggressive disease also may be more common in low-income settings. “Better awareness of the early signs, improving access to timely diagnosis...are critical to improving retinoblastoma outcomes worldwide,” lead author Ido Didi Fabian, MD, said in a statement.