Clinical features of acute leukemia and its relationship to the season of the year
Main Article Content
Keywords
Leukemia, Seasons
Abstract
Background: In 2009, 17.9 % of hospital morbidity by malignant tumors in México corresponded to hematological malignancies, mainly acute leukemia. Some studies suggest a seasonal pattern, since most of the cases are registered during summer. Our objective was to estimate the relationship between the different subtypes of acute leukemia with the age when the disease arose, and the season of the year.
Methods: Retrospective and observational study, based on records of a hematology department from January 2006 to April 2012. Only the patients diagnosed with de novo acute leukemia, stratified according to the French-American-British classification, were included. Seasonal analysis was performed using Edward’s periodic model.
Results: The study included 833 acute leukemia cases: 48 % of women (400), and 52 % of men (433). Median age was 36.2 ± 19.8 years. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia predominated over acute myeloblastic leukemia subtype M4 (p < 0.05), and we found differences (p < 0.01) between lymphoblastic and myeloblastic leukemias: 32.3 and 41.8. Despite the existence of pronounced peaks in the time series, they did not repeat periodically.
Conclusions: The most common variety of acute leukemia was lymphoblastic type L2, followed by myeloblastic type M4. People over 40 years of age were the most affected. A seasonal pattern of acute leukemias was not observed.
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