A Study for Incidence of Childhood Leukemia in Kyongnam Province, Korea / 대한소아혈액종양학회지

PURPOSE: Of the cancers in childhood, leukemia is the most frequent one. For the desirable control of childhood leukemia, the basic data for the incidence has a great importance. The authors made a report about the incidence of leukemia in childhood, which analyzed the data from 126 cases in Kyongnam province, Korea, during 1991~1995. METHODS: The data were obtained from 126 new cases of childhood leukemia who had been living in the Kyongnam province and were diagnosed at the 26 university hospitals or general hospitals in the Kyongnam area and other cities from 1991 to 1995. RESULTS: The age-and-sex adjusted annual incidence rate per 100,000 population during 1991~1995 varied from 1.82 to 2.86, and cumulative annual incidence rate was 2.41 (male 2.26 and female 2.57 respectively). Male to female sex ratio was 1:1 in total cases. By the major types of childhood leukemia, the cases were composed of acute lymphocytic leukemia 70.6%, acute myelocytic leukemia 26.9% and chronic myelocytic leukemia 2.5%. The cumulative annual incidence rate per 100,000 population (crude rate) during 1991~1995 were 2.77 in Ulsan city, 2.62 in Chinju city and 2.34 in the whole area of Kyongnam province. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that the age-and-sex adjusted annual incidence rate per 100,000 of childhood in Kyongnam province was 2.41, which was lower than that in Pusan city in the same period. And, there was no significant difference of the cumulative annual incidence rate between Ulsan area and Chinju area in the same period.

An Analytic Study for Incidence of Childhood Leukemia in Pusan City, Korea / 대한소아혈액종양학회지

BACKGROUND: Cancer is the second cause of childhood death following accident, and leukemia is the most frequent childhood cancer in Korea. For the desirable control of childhood leukemia, of which the mortality is still high, the basic data for the incidence has a great importance. This is the second report from the data during 1991~1995 following the first one that analyzed the data from 328 cases of childhood leukemia during 1981~1990 in the same area, Pusan city, Korea. METHODS: The data were obtained from 138 new cases(84 males and 54 females from 0 to 15 years old) of childhood leukemia who had been living in the city of Pusan and were admitted to the 4 university hospitals and 11 general hospitals from 1991 to 1995. The cases were confirmed by CBC and bone marrow examination. RESULTS: The crude annual incidence rate per 100,000 population varied 1.50~5.30, 2.59~6.00 and 1.58~2.61 in the age group of 0~4 years, 5~9 years and 10~14 years, respectively. The standardized annual incidence rate per 100,000 population varied from 2.05 to 3.46(male 2.96~4.89, female 0.98~3.57). Sex ratio(male to female) was 1.58:1, 1.44:1, and 1.82:1 in total cases, ALL and AML, respectively, while incalculable in CML. By the major types of childhood leukemia, the cases were composed of 105 ALL (76.1%), 31 AML(22.5%), 2 CML(1.4%). CONCLUSION: It was concluded that the annual incidence rate of childhood leukemia per 100,000 population in Pusan city during 1991~1995 was similar to that of previous report during 1981~1990, while the proportion of ALL had tendency to increase up to that of United States, in contrast to the low proportions of ALL in the previous reports.