The Epidemiology of Childhood Leukaemia

SUMMARY Leukaemias are of several types, the proportion attributable to each varying with age. The causes of most childhood leukaemias are unknown. A few are associated with genetic abnormalities and a few to chemotherapy given after birth. Many more are due to exposure to ionizing radiation with possibly 8 % attributable to exposure to natural radiation in utero. Clues to aetiology may be obtained from the age distribution of the disease and the variation in incidence with place, ethnicity, socioeconomic conditions and time; but much of the variation is likely to be a nosological artefact. The existence of clusters in space and time, which would point to the importance of environmental factors, has long been suspected but is unproved.

[1]  C. Kellett.  Acute myeloid leukaemia in one of identical twins , 1937, Archives of disease in childhood.

[2]  D. Black,et al.  Investigation of the possible increased incidence of cancer in West Cumbria , 1984 .

[3]  M. Greaves.  Speculations on the cause of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. , 1988, Leukemia.

[4]  M. Greaves,et al.  Collaborative group study of the epidemiology of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia subtypes: background and first report. , 1985, Leukemia research.

[5]  J F Bithell,et al.  A new calculation of the carcinogenic risk of obstetric X-raying. , 1988, Statistics in medicine.

[6]  J. Bithell,et al.  Pre-natal irradiation and childhood malignancy: a review of British data from the Oxford Survey. , 1975, British Journal of Cancer.

[7]  D. Parkin,et al.  The international incidence of childhood cancer , 1988, IARC scientific publications.

[8]  D. Harnden.  Inherited factors in leukaemia and lymphoma. , 1985, Leukemia research.

[9]  A. Knudson.  Hereditary cancer, oncogenes, and antioncogenes. , 1985, Cancer research.

[10]  D. Hewitt,et al.  A Survey of Childhood Malignancies , 1958, Public health reports.

[11]  Leo Kinlen,et al.  EVIDENCE FOR AN INFECTIVE CAUSE OF CHILDHOOD LEUKAEMIA: COMPARISON OF A SCOTTISH NEW TOWN WITH NUCLEAR REPROCESSING SITES IN BRITAIN , 1988, The Lancet.

[12]  N. Breslow.  Extra‐Poisson Variation in Log‐Linear Models , 1984 .

[13]  R. Doll,et al.  Fallout, radiation doses near Dounreay, and childhood leukaemia. , 1987, British medical journal.

[14]  E. Rappaport,et al.  Childhood leukemia and parents' occupational and home exposures. , 1987, Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

[15]  A. Stewart,et al.  Role of Local Infections in the Recognition of Haemopoietic Neoplasms , 1969, Nature.

[16]  J. Fraumeni,et al.  Epidemiology of human leukemia: recent observations. , 1967, Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

[17]  V. Newill,et al.  Birth characteristics of children dying of malignant neoplasms. , 1962, Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

[18]  S. C. Darby,et al.  Geographical variation in mortality from leukaemia and other cancers in England and Wales in relation to proximity to nuclear installations, 1969-78. , 1989, British Journal of Cancer.

[19]  J. Fraumeni,et al.  A population-based case-control study of childhood leukemia in Shanghai , 1990 .

[20]  W. McWhirter.  The relationship of incidence of childhood lymphoblastic leukaemia to social class. , 1982, British Journal of Cancer.