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One dollar in every $30 invested in cancer research goes specifically to research on childhood and adolescent cancers, according to a new report.

In 2007, $13.2-million of the $402.4-million that was invested in cancer research in Canada was aimed at understanding the causes and improving the cancer of younger patients, the study from the Canadian Cancer Research Alliance shows.

Cancers in the 0 to 19 age group account for fewer than 1 per cent of all cancer diagnoses but understanding their root causes is essential, said Paul Grundy, director of pediatric hematology oncology at Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton.

“Research on how these cancers begin and what causes them within this population is key to advancing our understanding of how to prevent or stop the disease,” he said.

Dr. Grundy, who is also the chair of C17, an alliance of childhood cancer centres, noted that the cancers that affect young people are very different from those that affect adults. Childhood cancers are principally leukemias, brain tumours, bone tumours and sarcomas. Adults suffer most from lung, prostate, breast and colorectal cancers.

The positive news is that treatments in children and adolescents are quite effective, with five-year survival rates exceeding 80 per cent.

The challenge is that survivors of childhood cancers live with long-term effects and are at much higher risk of developing cancer again as adults.

The data being released Tuesday is the first look at the country's investment in childhood and adolescent cancer. It is included in the annual report entitled Cancer Research Investment in Canada.

The report shows that, over the past three years, more than $1.1-billion has been invested in cancer research in Canada, including $38.1-million in childhood and adolescent cancer research.

Almost half of that money, 44 per cent, goes to basic research examining the biology of cancer. Another 24 per cent goes to research on treatment, 10 per cent to etiology (understanding the causes of cancer), 10 per cent to early detection, 9 per cent to cancer control, 2 per cent to prevention and 1 per cent to research on scientific models.

Elizabeth Eisenhauer, co-chair of the Canadian Cancer Research Alliance, a coalition of 23 groups, said the information in the report is valuable because it helps to facilitate and co-ordinate planning among various organizations.

The largest funder of cancer research is the federal government, through the Canadian Institutes for Health Research and the Canada Foundation for Innovation. Charitable groups such as the Canadian Cancer Society and the Terry Fox Foundation are also major funders, as are provincial bodies such as the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research.

An estimated 171,000 new cases of cancer and 75,300 deaths will occur in Canada in 2009, according to the Canadian Cancer Society.

That total includes an estimated 1,300 cancer cases in young people under the age of 19, and 170 deaths in that age group.