Incidence of acute leukemia in children in Belarus: descriptive analysis of the data for 1990-2004
The incidence of acute leukemia in children (0-14 years) in Republic of Belarus is analyzed for the period of 1990-2004. Analysis was carried out on the base of Pediatric Cancer Subregister of Republic of Belarus (registration certificate N 0170100025 at State Register of Information Resources of Belarus Republic of December 12, 2001). Total number of acute leukemia cases in children during this period was 1117, of these 878 (78.6%) cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and 170 (15.2%) of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). No statistically significant changes in the incidence of ALL in children were detected. Comparison of the disease incidence for 5-year periods showed that the incidence of AML increased significantly in 2000-2004 in comparison with the previous years: the age-standardized incidence ratio (SIR) for periods 1990-1994 and 2000-2004 was 153.63 (p < 0.01), for periods 1995-1999 and 2000-2004 was 141.32 (p < 0.05). Increase in total incidence of AML was due to increase of the disease incidence in boys: SIR for periods 1990-1994 and 2000-2004 was 163.68 (p < 0.05). The cause of this phenomenon is unclear, which dictates profound epidemiological studies.