Geographical and temporal trends of childhood leukemia in relation to the nuclear plant in the Negev, Israel, 1960-1985.
Gardner et al. (Br Med J 1990; 300: 423-429) reported a high relative risk for childhood leukemia among children, aged 0-24 years at time of diagnosis, born to fathers employed at the Sellafield nuclear plant in the U.K. As a result we looked for spatial and temporal trends of childhood and young adult leukemia in the Negev, where a nuclear plant has been in operation since 1960. We divided the Negev into an Eastern part where plant employees are likely to live, and a Western part where this is quite unlikely. Reported leukemia cases were provided by the Israel Cancer Registry for the age group 0-24, and for the period 1960-1985. We checked this file against data obtained from the hospitals in the area. We added 6 more cases in the Eastern Negev, none in the Western Negev, and none of the reported cases was discarded. There was a total of 192 cases, of which 52% were acute lymphatic leukemia. Jewish and Bedouin children were studied separately. Among Jewish children the average annual incidence rate for the Eastern Negev was 2.76/100,000, the Western Negev 3.51. Over time the leukemia rates were consistently higher in the Western Negev among children aged 0-9 years, which holds especially for acute lymphatic leukemia. There was a sudden increase among girls born during the period 1970-1979 in the northern part of the Western Negev, which was not noticed among boys. No excess cases were found in the small towns around the plant.
Sofer
T
T
Epidemiology Unit, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
Goldsmith
J R
JR
Nusselder
I
I
Katz
L
L
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D007953:Leukemia, Radiation-Induced / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D009688:Nuclear Reactors; D013997:Time Factors