Ewing Sarcoma - Childhood and Adolescence: Statistics

Approved by the Cancer.Net Editorial Board, 02/2023

ON THIS PAGE: You will find information about the estimated number of children and teens who will be diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma each year. You will also read general information on surviving the disease. Remember, survival rates depend on several factors, and no 2 people with a tumor are the same. Use the menu to see other pages.

Every person is different, with different factors influencing their risk of being diagnosed with this tumor and the chance of recovery after a diagnosis. It is important to talk with your doctor about any questions you have around the general statistics provided below and what they may mean for your child individually. The original sources for these statistics are provided at the bottom of this page.

How many children and teens are diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma?

Each year, about 200 children and teens in the United States are diagnosed with a Ewing sarcoma. This type of tumor makes up 1% of all cancers in children and adolescents younger than 15 and 2% of all cancers in teens aged 15 to 19. These tumors can also affect younger children and young adults in their 20s and 30s. Almost all cases of Ewing sarcoma occur in White people and Hispanic people.

What is the survival rate for Ewing sarcoma?

There are different types of statistics that can help doctors evaluate a child or teen’s chance of recovery from Ewing sarcoma. These are called survival statistics. A specific type of survival statistic is called the relative survival rate. It is often used to predict how having a tumor may affect life expectancy. Relative survival rate looks at how likely people with Ewing sarcoma are to survive for a certain amount of time after their initial diagnosis or start of treatment compared to the expected survival of similar people without this tumor.

Example: Here is an example to help explain what a relative survival rate means. Please note this is only an example and not specific to this type of cancer. Let’s assume that the 5-year relative survival rate for a specific type of cancer is 90%. “Percent” means how many out of 100. Imagine there are 1,000 people without cancer, and based on their age and other characteristics, you expect 900 of the 1,000 to be alive in 5 years. Also imagine there are another 1,000 people similar in age and other characteristics as the first 1,000, but they all have the specific type of cancer that has a 5-year survival rate of 90%. This means it is expected that 810 of the people with the specific cancer (90% of 900) will be alive in 5 years.

It is important to remember that statistics on the survival rates for children and teens with Ewing sarcoma are only an estimate. They cannot tell an individual person if the tumor will or will not shorten their life. Instead, these statistics describe trends in groups of people previously diagnosed with the same disease, including specific stages of the disease.

The survival rates for Ewing sarcoma vary based on several factors. These include the stage of tumor, a person’s age and general health, and how well the treatment plan works. There are other factors that have been linked to higher survival rates for all stages of Ewing tumors. These factors include being younger than 10, having a smaller sized tumor, having a tumor located in an arm or leg, and having normal levels of the enzyme lactate dehydrogenase (LDH).

Based on age, the overall 5-year relative survival rate for this type of cancer in the United States is 78% for children younger than 15 and 64% for teens ages 15 to 19.

The overall 5-year relative survival rate for people with Ewing sarcoma is 63%. If the tumor is found only in the area it began (called localized), the 5-year relative survival rate is 82%. If it has spread to the nearby region (called regional), the 5-year relative survival rate is 71%. If the tumor has spread to distant areas at the time of diagnosis (called metastasis), the 5-year relative survival rate is 39%.

Experts measure relative survival rate statistics for Ewing sarcoma every 5 years. This means the estimate may not reflect the results of advancements in how Ewing sarcoma is diagnosed or treated from the last 5 years. Talk with your child’s doctor if you have any questions about this information. Learn more about understanding statistics.

Statistics adapted from the websites of the American Cancer Society and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Additional source was Seigel R, et al.: Cancer Statistics 2023. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. 2023 Jan; 73(1):17–48. doi/full/10.3322/caac.21763. (All sources accessed February 2023.)

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