title: Gender and age-related differences in Burkitt lymphoma--epidemiological and clinical data from The Netherlands.
abstract: Although Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) is classified as one entity in the World Health Organisation (WHO) classification, we wondered whether BL should not be considered as a different disease in children compared with adults. Netherlands Cancer Registry (NCR) data were obtained from 1994 to 1998 (n=203). Detailed clinical data from two treatment protocols were compared: one for adults up to the age of 65 years (n=27) and one for children (n=80). All slides of the two clinical studies were centrally reviewed which included immunophenotyping and when necessary breakpoint analysis of MYC/8q24. Only cases with an unambiguous diagnosis of BL (classical and atypical BL) were accepted. The age distribution of BL-patients showed a bimodal distribution with a peak at the paediatric age and a steady increase after approximately 60 years of age. Most of the patients were males (89% for children and 78% for adults) and only male patients showed this bimodality. Children more often had extranodal disease (81% vs. 59%), whereas adults more often had nodal disease (89% vs. 53%). Based on epidemiology and clinical presentation, the concept that BL is one disease should be re-challenged.
authors.affiliation: Department of Haematology, Groningen University Medical Centre, The Netherlands. e.j.boerma@path.azg.nl
authors.forename: E G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Boerma
authors.forename: G W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: van Imhoff
authors.forename: I M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Appel
authors.forename: N J G M
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Veeger
authors.forename: Ph M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Kluin
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Kluin-Nelemans
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002051:Burkitt Lymphoma / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D012042:Registries; D017678:Sex Distribution