Epidemiology of childhood Hodgkins disease: is it different in developing countries?

ABSTRACT

Childhood Hodgkins Disease (HD) is a lymphoma that displays characteristic epidemiological, clinical and pathological features according to various geographic areas, particularly according to the socio-economic level of a given country. India presents a similar sex, age and subtype distribution as other emerging countries high male-to-female ratio, younger age at presentation, high proportion of advanced stages and presence of constitutional symptoms, predominance of mixed cellularity type of HD. The etiology of HD is still the subject of controversy and investigation, but it may occur as a sequel of a viral infection during early childhood, such as Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Most cases of Indian childhood HD are associated to EBV, while genetic predisposition is seen in very rare cases.