Urbanisation and incidence of acute lymphocytic leukaemia among United States children aged 0-4

• Published in: British journal of cancer Vol. 92; no. 11; pp. 2084 - 2088
• Main Authors: ADELMAN, A. S, MCLAUGHLIN, C. C, WU, X.-C, CHEN, V. W, GROVES, F. D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basingstoke Nature Publishing Group 06.06.2005
• Subjects: Age; Biological and medical sciences; Cancer research; Child, Preschool; Cities; Epidemiology; Female; Hematologic and hematopoietic diseases; Humans; Incidence; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Leukemia; Leukemias. Malignant lymphomas. Malignant reticulosis. Myelofibrosis; Lymphoma; Male; Medical research; Medical sciences; Odds Ratio; Pacific Islander people; Population; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma - epidemiology; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma - etiology; Public health; Registries - statistics & numerical data; Rural areas; Surveillance; Tumors; United States - epidemiology; Urban Population; Urbanization; United States; North America; America; Louisiana; United States > US; Human; Rural environment; Urban environment; Acute; Malignant hemopathy; Epidemiology; Incidence; Cancerology; children; Lymphoproliferative syndrome; Race; leukaemia; Acute lymphocytic leukemia; urban-rural differences; Child
• ISSN: 0007-0920; 1532-1827
• DOI: 10.1038/sj.bjc.6602607

Acute lymphocytic leukaemia (ALL) incidence among children under 5 years of age was examined, utilising data from 24 United States cancer registries. County-based incidence rates among white children were compared across four levels of urbanisation: large and small metropolitan counties, and adjacent and nonadjacent rural counties. In metropolitan areas, the incidence of ALL was lower among blacks (rate ratio (RR)=0.38, confidence interval (CI)=0.33-0.44) and among Asians/Pacific Islanders (RR=0.78, CI=0.63-0.97) than among whites. Among white children, the incidence of ALL decreased across the four strata of urbanisation, from 67 to 62 to 65 to 54 cases per million person-years at-risk (two-sided trend P=0.009), such that rates were significantly lower in the most remote rural counties than in the most populous metropolitan counties (RR=0.80, 95% CI=0.70-0.91).