title: Incidence of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and population-based treatment results in Switzerland: experiences with 507 study and 149 nonstudy patients.
abstract: Of 656 patients with ALL (all types) diagnosed in Switzerland during 4 consecutive 4-year periods (1976-1979, 1980-1983, 1984-1987, 1988-1991), 507 were officially registered on protocols ("study" patients) while 149 were not ("nonstudy" patients). The mean incidence of 3.8/100,000 children < 15 years/year is higher than reported for other Western countries. Evidence is presented suggesting that the 656 patients represent only approximately 90% of all children with ALL residing in Switzerland, indicating that the true incidence of ALL might even be higher. The fraction of "nonstudy" patients fell from 40% (1976-1979) to 15% (1984-1987). The rate of survival at 4 years of all patients with ALL ("study" and "nonstudy") increased by 17% during the three consecutive periods 1976-1979, 1980-1983, and 1984-1987. As expected, a higher increase (20%) was observed in "study" patients and a statistically nonsignificant lower one (10%) in "nonstudy" patients.
authors.affiliation: Swiss Pediatric Oncology Group (SPOG), Med. Universitätskinderklinik, Inselspital, Bern.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stupnicki
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: von der Weid
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Imbach
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Arnet
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Berchtold
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Delaleu
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hirt
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Pluess
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Beck
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wyss
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013557:Switzerland / Q000453:epidemiology