Trends in childhood leukemia in Basrah, Iraq, 1993-2007.
OBJECTIVE
Through a sister-university relationship between the University of Basrah and the University of Washington, we analyzed Ibn Ghazwan Hospital's leukemia registry data to evaluate trends in childhood leukemia since 1993.


METHODS
We documented leukemia cases among children aged 0 to 14 years for each of the last 15 years. Population data were obtained from a 1997 census and various subsequent estimates to calculate rates.


RESULTS
We observed 698 cases of childhood leukemia between 1993 and 2007, ranging between 15 cases (2.6 per 100 000 annual rate) in the first year and 56 cases (6.9 per 100 000 annual rate) in the final year, reaching a peak of 97 cases in 2006 (12.2 per 100 000 annual rate).


CONCLUSIONS
Childhood leukemia rates in Basrah more than doubled over a 15-year period. The test for trend was significant (P = .03). Basrah's childhood leukemia rate compared unfavorably with neighboring Kuwait and nearby Oman, as well as the United States, the European Union, and other countries.
Hagopian
Amy
A
Department of Global Health, School of Public Health, University of Washington, 4534 11th Avenue NE, Seattle, WA 98105, USA. hagopian@u.washington.edu
Lafta
Riyadh
R
Hassan
Jenan
J
Davis
Scott
S
Mirick
Dana
D
Takaro
Tim
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007493:Iraq / Q000453:epidemiology; D054542:Iraq War, 2003-2011; D007938:Leukemia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D012042:Registries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012737:Sex Factors