Korean J Pediatr Hematol Oncol.
1999 Oct;6(2):259-265.
Epidemiologic Investigation of Childhood Cancer in Taegu, Kyungpook Area
- Affiliations
-
- 1Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University, Taegu, Korea.
- 2Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Keimyung University, Taegu, Korea.
- 3Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Kyungpook University, Taegu, Korea.
- 4Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Catholic University of Taegu-Hyosung, Taegu, Korea.
- 5Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Taegu Fatima Hospital, Taegu, Korea.
Abstract
- PURPOSE: This study was carried to examine the temporal trend and geographical distribution of the childhood cancers in Taegu and Kyungpook province and to postulate an etiological hypothesis for development of the childhood cancer.
METHODS
A total of 799 childhood cancer patients whose addresses were either Taegu or Kyungpook province were diagnosed at 5 major hospitals in Taegu from January 1982 to December 1996. The types, sexes, years, and frequencies of the childhood cancer and regional distributions were analyzed, based on the hospital records of these patients.
RESULTS
The most common childhood cancer was leukemia that accounted for 49.2% of all childhood cancer cases and it was followed by CNS tumor (12.3%), lymphoma (8.4%), neuroblastoma (7.4%), Wilms tumor (3.9%), retinoblastoma (3.4%), rhabdomyo sarcoma (2.7%), bone tumor (2.4%), embryonal carcinoma (1.9%), hepatoblastoma (1.3%) and others (7.1%). Male to female ratio of the cases was 1.5:1. The changes of the annual incidence rates over 15 years in Taegu and Kyungpook area were not consistently increasing but rather variable. Cancer incidence rate of Taegu was significantly higher than that of Kyungpook province (P<0.005). The incidence rates of industrialized cities around Taegu were significantly higher than those of agricultural regions of northern Kyungpook (P<0.05).
CONCLUSION
Geographical difference in cancer incidence rate suggested that certain environmental factors may be associated with the childhood cancer. To identify such factors an analytical epidemiologic study is warranted. For the analytical epidemiologic study, a detailed history of residential area and occupational history of parents should be recorded uniformly for all the new childhood cancer cases.
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