title: Pattern of childhood leukaemia in University College Hospital, Ibadan.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Leukaemias are haematological malignancies characterized by unregulated clonal proliferation of haematopoietic cells.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the pattern of childhood leukaemia in Ibadan.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a retrospective study of leukaemia cases diagnosed at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan between January 1991 and December 2010 in children less than 15 years of age. Data obtained was subjected to statistical analysis using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 64 cases of childhood leukaemia, accounting for 10.2% of childhood cancers seen during this study period. The male to female ratio was 2:1 and modal age group was between 10 and 14 years. Thirty (46.9%) cases were acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), 22 (34.4%) were acute myelogenous leukaemia (AML) and 12 (18.8%) were unspecified acute leukaemias. There was no case of chronic myeloid or lymphocytic leukaemia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There has been a relative increase in the frequency of leukaemia cases at UCH, Ibadan, which may be largely explained by increased awareness and referrals. There is a need for further collaborative multicentre studies of childhood leukaemias in Nigeria and other developing countries and focused research on childhood leukaemias in order to unravel the aetiology.
authors.forename: T O
authors.initials: TO
authors.lastname: Babatunde
authors.forename: G O
authors.initials: GO
authors.lastname: Ogun
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: E E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Akang
authors.forename: Y A
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Aken'Ova
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007938:Leukemia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009549:Nigeria / Q000453:epidemiology; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data