Pattern of childhood malignant tumours in a teaching hospital in south-western Nigeria.
OBJECTIVE
To document general baseline data on the patterns of childhood malignant tumours at a teaching hospital in south-western Nigeria.


METHODS
A retrospective study of childhood malignancy at Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu, Nigeria, during an 11-year period, from January 1996 to December 2006.


RESULTS
77 children were diagnosed with malignant tumours (an average of seven diagnoses per year); 46 were boys (60%), giving a male-to-female ratio of 1.5 : 1. The age distribution of patients was 1-18 years. There were 42 diagnoses (55%) in the 1-5-year age group and 68 malignancies (88%) were diagnosed at ages of 12 years or younger. Lymphomas were the most prevalent malignancy identified, accounting for 31 diagnoses (40%). Burkitt's lymphoma constituted the majority of malignancies (28 cases; 36%), followed by retinoblastoma (16 cases; 21%) and nephroblastoma (11 cases; 14%). Other malignancies included germ cell tumours (6), neuroblastomas (4), osteosarcomas (3), rhabdomyosarcomas (3) and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (3). One case each of medullary thyroid carcinoma, adenocarcinoma of the rectum, invasive mucinous carcinoma of the colon were also identified.


CONCLUSIONS
These data suggest that Burkitt's lymphoma is the most common childhood malignant tumour in our geographic area of south-western Nigeria. With the rising incidence of childhood malignancy in resource-poor countries, measuring the baseline occurrence of such tumours is imperative to provide much-needed resource allocation.
Agboola
Ayodeji O J
AO
Obafemi Awolowo College of Health Sciences, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Sagamu, Ogun State, Nigeria. johndeji2001@yahoo.co.uk
Adekanmbi
Folashade A
FA
Musa
Adewale A
AA
Sotimehin
Adetoun S
AS
Deji-Agboola
Anotu M
AM
Shonubi
Aderibigbe M O
AM
Oyebadejo
Temitope Y
TY
Banjo
Adekunbi A F
AA
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009549:Nigeria / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies