Examination of temporal trends in the incidence of childhood leukaemias and lymphomas provides aetiological clues.
The age-sex distributions and temporal trends in incidence of leukaemia and lymphoma from the Manchester Children's Tumour Registry (MCTR), 1954-1998, are reported. This 45-year study includes 1795 children, all of whom had a histologically and/or cytologically verified leukaemia or lymphoma. At the time of their diagnoses all the children were under 15 years of age and were resident in a geographically defined area of northwest England covered by the MCTR. Log-linear modelling identified significant linear increases in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) (average annual increase 0.7%; P= 0.005) and in Hodgkin's disease (HD) (1.2%, P=0.04), but not in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), nor in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). The increase in ALL was most pronounced amongst males, aged 1-4 years, and is likely to be due to precursor B-cell leukaemias. The increases in ALL and HD are discussed in relation to current hypotheses suggesting a role for infection. Additionally, a non-linear cohort effect was identified for NHL (P= 0.008), which may indicate the involvement of environmental factors other than infection.
McNally
R J
RJ
Cancer Research Campaign Paediatric and Familial Cancer Research Group, University of Manchester, UK.
Cairns
D P
DP
Eden
O B
OB
Kelsey
A M
AM
Taylor
G M
GM
Birch
J M
JM
D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D015991:Epidemiologic Measurements; D005260:Female; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007938:Leukemia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D007951:Leukemia, Myeloid / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D012042:Registries; D012737:Sex Factors