ABSTRACT
Acute leukemia is the most common childhood malignancy and acute lymphoblastic leukemia [ALL] has been reported five times more common than acute myelocytic leukemia [AML] among children. The present study addresses the clinical manifestations and age and sex distribution in childhood ALL and AML. This is a descriptive-analytic study performed on 70 ALL and 70 AML patients who have been hospitalized at Children Medical Center. Initial data were obtained through patients' files and analyzed by SPSS software and chi-square test. The mean age of patients with ALL was 5.1 years compared to 8 years in AML patients. Most of ALL patients aged under 5 years whereas AML patients aged >/= 10 years [p<0.0001]. In both groups, disease was more common in boys than girls. Palor was the most frequent sign in both groups. Lymphadenopathy, hepatosplenomegaly and bone pain in ALL, and fever and bleeding in AML patients were more prevalent than other manifestations. Leukemia must be considered in children with palor and nonspecific signs. Although age distribution and some other clinical manifestations are differed between ALL and AML patients, these two entities could not be easily differentiated according to the age, sex and clinical manifestations. Indeed, definite diagnosis must be achieved with bone marrow aspiration or biopsy, fluocytometery and specific staining