title: Acute Leukemia Characteristics are Different Around the World: the Mexican Perspective.
abstract: The incidence of acute leukemia (AL) has increased. Its prognosis is variable and depends on several baseline characteristics with a highly heterogeneous presentation. In Mexico, large-scale descriptive studies have not yet been published; the objective of this study was to analyze the initial basic characteristics of patients diagnosed with AL in our population.
  
  
  
  In this multicenter, retrospective study, 1018 patients ≥ 16 years of age and diagnosed with AL between 2009 and 2014, were included. We described age, gender, complete blood count, and AL subtype according to flow cytometry analysis.
  
  
  
  Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) was as common as acute myeloid leukemia (AML) (51% vs. 49%). The median age was 31 years. Only 9.6% of patients with ALL were positive for the Philadelphia chromosome. No gender differences were observed. The median age at presentation of AML was 43 years. Acute promyelocytic leukemia was the most frequent AML subtype (38.3%), with a median age of 37 years.
  
  
  
  ALL is equally as frequent as AML in patients ≥16 years of age. Philadelphia-positive prevalence is less frequent than that reported in literature. AML cases occur in a younger age in comparison with other countries. There is a higher rate of acute promyelocytic leukemia among our patients compared with other non-Latin American populations. This study is the largest ever performed in Mexico regarding descriptive AL data.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Hospital Universitario Dr. José Eleuterio González, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. Electronic address: dgomezalmaguer@gmail.com.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gómez-Almaguer
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Hospital Universitario Dr. José Eleuterio González, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico.
authors.forename: Edson René
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Marcos-Ramírez
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Hospital General de México, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors.forename: Efreen Horacio
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Montaño-Figueroa
authors.affiliation: Centro de Hematología y Medicina Interna de Puebla, Clínica Ruiz, Puebla, Puebla, Mexico.
authors.forename: Guillermo J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Ruiz-Argüelles
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Hospital General de Occidente, Jalisco, Mexico.
authors.forename: Carlos Roberto
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Best-Aguilera
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Hospital General de Occidente, Jalisco, Mexico.
authors.forename: María Del Carmen
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: López-Sánchez
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Hospital Civil de Guadalajara Fray Antonio Alcalde, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.
authors.forename: Esperanza
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Barrera-Chairez
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Hospital General de Zona #35, Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico.
authors.forename: José Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: López-Arrollo
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Hospital General de México, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors.forename: Christian Omar
authors.initials: CO
authors.lastname: Ramos-Peñafiel
authors.affiliation: Centro de Hematología y Medicina Interna de Puebla, Clínica Ruiz, Puebla, Puebla, Mexico.
authors.forename: Andrés
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: León-Peña
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Hospital Universitario Dr. José Eleuterio González, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico.
authors.forename: Elías Eugenio
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: González-López
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Hospital Universitario Dr. José Eleuterio González, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico.
authors.forename: Perla Edith
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Rivas-García
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Hospital Universitario Dr. José Eleuterio González, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico.
authors.forename: Carlos Alberto
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Tellez-Hinojosa
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Hospital Universitario Dr. José Eleuterio González, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico.
authors.forename: Andrés
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gómez-De León
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Hospital Universitario Dr. José Eleuterio González, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico.
authors.forename: José Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Jaime-Pérez
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease / Q000453:epidemiology; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico; D008875:Middle Aged; D010677:Philadelphia Chromosome; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Acute promyelocytic leukemia; Latin American; Lymphoblastic; Myeloblastic; Philadelphia chromosome