ABSTRACT
Earlier assessments led to the conclusion that due to the added radiation after the Chernobyl accident, childhood leukemia in Belarus was not recognisably increased in the years 1987-1994 compared to the years 1982-1986, i.e. the period before the accident. The present paper gives the data of the continued follow-up (1995-1998) which was conducted by the Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion, Minsk. In line with the earlier observations no increase has been identified. The incidence rates have been compared to the data of the newly established Belarussian Childhood Cancer Registry and a tentative explanation is given for apparent differences between the rates from our follow-up and the data reported earlier by the Belarussian Childhood Cancer Registry.
Subject(s)
Leukemia/epidemiology , Adolescent , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Male , Power Plants , Radioactive Hazard Release , Republic of Belarus , Time Factors , UkraineABSTRACT
Petridou et al. [1] have reported an increase in infant leukemia in Greek children born between 1/7/86 and 31/12/87 and have linked this increase to in utero radiation exposure due to the Chernobyl accident. Subsequently, Michaelis et al. [2] have reported a similar trend for Germany but found that it was not correlated to the levels of contamination. For Belarus, which was much more severely affected, a similar but much weaker trend is found.
