Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Patterns of leukemia incidence in the United States by subtype and demographic characteristics, 1997–2002

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Cancer Causes & Control Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

Efforts to prevent leukemia have been hampered by an inability to identify significant risk factors. Exploring incidence patterns of leukemia subtypes by sex and race/ethnic group may generate new etiologic hypotheses and identify high-risk groups for further study.

Methods

Data from the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries for 1997–2002 were used to assess patterns of leukemia incidence by subtype, sex, age, race and ethnicity.

Results

A total of 144,559 leukemia cases were identified, including 66,067 (46%) acute and 71,860 (50%) chronic leukemias. The highest rates of acute myeloid leukemia with and without maturation were observed in Asian-Pacific Islanders (API). Hispanics had a higher incidence of acute lymphocytic leukemia, particularly in childhood, and promyelocytic leukemia than did non-Hispanics. African–Americans had the highest rates of HTLV-1 positive adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma. A sharp increase in the incidence of chronic myeloid leukemia was observed for both APIs and Hispanics, 85 years and older.

Conclusion

Known risk factors are unlikely to explain the observed disparities in leukemia incidence. Further studies of differences in environmental and genetic risk factors in these populations by specific leukemia subtype may provide clues to the etiologies of these malignancies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Jemal A, Siegel R, Ward E et al (2006) Cancer statistics, 2006. CA Cancer J Clin 56:106–130

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Ries LAG, Smith MA, Gurney JG et al (1999) Cancer incidence and survival among children and adolescents: United States SEER Program 1975–1995. National Cancer Institute, SEER Program, Bethesda, MD

    Google Scholar 

  3. Ries LAG, Harkins D, Krapcho M et al (2006) SEER cancer statistics review, 1975–2003. National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland

    Google Scholar 

  4. Groves FD, Linet MS, Devesa SS (1995) Patterns of occurrence of the leukaemias. Eur J Cancer 31A:941–949

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Horm JW, Devesa SS, Burhansstipanov L (1996) Cancer incidence, mortality, and survival among racial and ethnic minority groups in the United States. In: Schottenfeld D, Fraumeni JF (eds) Cancer epidemiology and prevention. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  6. Pang JW, Cook LS, Schwartz SM, Weis NS (2002) Incidence of leukemia in Asian migrants to the United States and their descendants. Cancer Causes Control 13:791–795

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Gale RP, Cozen W, Goodman MT, Wang FF, Bernstein L (2000) Decreased chronic lymphocytic leukemia incidence in Asians in Los Angeles County. Leuk Res 24:665–669

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Lanier AP, Holck P, Ehrsam DG, Key C (2003) Childhood cancer among Alaska Natives. Pediatrics 112:e396

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Glazer ER, Perkins CI, Young JL Jr, Schlag RD, Campleman SL, Wright WE (1999) Cancer among Hispanic children in California, 1988–1994: comparison with non-Hispanic white children. Cancer 86:1070–1079

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Bennett JM, Catovsky D, Daniel MT et al (1976) Proposals for the classification of the acute leukaemias. French-American-British (FAB) co-operative group. Br J Haematol 33:451–458

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Harris NL, Jaffe ES, Stein H et al (1994) A revised European-American classification of lymphoid neoplasms: a proposal from the International Lymphoma Study Group. Blood 84:1361–1392

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Khalidi HS, Medeiros LJ, Chang KL, Brynes RK, Slovak ML, Arber DA (1998) The immunophenotype of adult acute myeloid leukemia: high frequency of lymphoid antigen expression and comparison of immunophenotype, French-American-British classification, and karyotypic abnormalities. Am J Clin Pathol 109:211–220

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Harris NL, Jaffe ES, Diebold J et al (1999) The World Health Organization classification of neoplastic diseases of the hematopoietic and lymphoid tissues. Report of the Clinical Advisory Committee meeting, Airlie House, Virginia, November, 1997. Ann Oncol 10:1419–1432

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Ellison JH, Wu XC, Howe HL et al (2005) Cancer in North America, 1998–2002. North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, Inc, Springfield, IL

    Google Scholar 

  15. NAAACCR Expert Panel in Hispanic Identification (2003) Report of the NAACCR Expert Panel on Hispanic Identification 2003. Springfield, IL: North American Association of Central Cancer Registries

  16. Ellison JH, Wu XC, McLaughlin CC et al (2006) Cancer rates in North America, 1999–2003. North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, Springfield, IL

    Google Scholar 

  17. Fritz A, Percy C, Jack A et al (2000) International classification of diseases for oncology, 3rd edn, World Health Organization, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  18. Fay MP (1999) Approximate confidence intervals for rate ratios from directly standardized rates with sparse data. Commun Stat Theor Meth 28:2141–2160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Fay MP, Tiwari RC, Feuer EJ, Zou Z (2006) Estimating average annual percent change for disease rates without assuming constant change. Biometrics 62:847–854

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. SEER*STAT (2006) Surveillance Research Program, National Cancer Institute

  21. Douer D (2003) The epidemiology of acute promyelocytic leukaemia. Best Pract Res Clin Haematol 16:357–367

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Morton LM, Wang SS, Devesa SS, Hartge P, Weisenburger DD, Linet MS (2006) Lymphoma incidence patterns by WHO subtype in the United States, 1992–2001. Blood 107:265–276

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Hesseling PB, Hartley P, Zietsman L, van Lill S, Preston-Martin S, Wessels G (2004) Incidence of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in white and coloured children in the Western Cape. S Afr Med J 94:533–536

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Macdougall LG, Jankowitz P, Cohn R, Bernstein R (1986) Acute childhood leukemia in Johannesburg. Ethnic differences in incidence, cell type, and survival. Am J Pediatr Hematol Oncol 8:43–51

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Ross JA, Davies SM, Potter JD, Robison LL (1994) Epidemiology of childhood leukemia, with a focus on infants. Epidemiol Rev 16:243–272

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Muir KR, Parkes SE, Mann JR, Stevens MC, Cameron AH (1992) Childhood cancer in the West Midlands: incidence and survival, 1980–1984, in a multi-ethnic population. Clin Oncol (R Coll Radiol) 4:177–182

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. McKinney PA, Feltbower RG, Parslow RC, Lewis IJ, Glaser AW, Kinsey SE (2003) Patterns of childhood cancer by ethnic group in Bradford, UK 1974–1997. Eur J Cancer 39:92–97

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. White JD, Johnson JA, Nam JM et al (1996) Distribution of human leukocyte antigens in a population of black patients with human T-cell lymphotrophic virus type I-associated adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 5:873–877

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Poiesz BJ, Papsidero LD, Ehrlich G et al (2001) Prevalence of HTLV-I-associated T-cell lymphoma. Am J Hematol 66:32–38

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Wilkinson JD, Fleming LE, MacKinnon J et al (2001) Lymphoma and lymphoid leukemia incidence in Florida children: ethnic and racial distribution. Cancer 91:1402–1408

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Duncan MH, Wiggins CL, Samet JM, Key CR (1986) Childhood cancer epidemiology in New Mexico’s American Indians, Hispanic whites, and non-Hispanic whites, 1970–82. J Natl Cancer Inst 76:1013–1018

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Gregory J Jr, Feusner J (2003) Acute promyelocytic leukaemia in children. Best Pract Res Clin Haematol 16: 483–494

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Mendes WL, Coser VM, Ramos G, Pereira W, Lopes LF, de Oliveira MS (2004) The apparent excess of acute promyelocytic leukemia in infant acute leukemias in Brazil. Haematologica 89:ELT16

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Matasar MJ, Ritchie EK, Consedine N , Magai C, Neugut AI (2006) Incidence rates of acute promyelocytic leukemia among Hispanics, blacks, Asians, and non-Hispanic whites in the United States. Eur J Cancer Prev 15:367–370

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Douer D, Santillana S, Ramezani L et al (2003) Acute promyelocytic leukaemia in patients originating in Latin America is associated with an increased frequency of the bcr1 subtype of the PML/RARalpha fusion gene. Br J Haematol 122:563–570

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Ruiz-Arguelles GJ, Garces-Eisele J, Reyes-Nunez V, Gomez-Rangel JD, Ruiz-Delgado GJ (2004) More on geographic hematology: the breakpoint cluster regions of the PML/RARalpha fusion gene in Mexican Mestizo patients with promyelocytic leukemia are different from those in Caucasians. Leuk Lymphoma 45:1365–1368

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Freeman HP (1998) The meaning of race in science–considerations for cancer research: concerns of special populations in the National Cancer Program. Cancer 82:219–225

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. Clegg LX, Reichman ME, Hankey BF et al (2007) Quality of race, Hispanic ethnicity, and immigrant status in population-based cancer registry data: implications for health disparity studies. Cancer Causes Control 18:177–187

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Clarke CA, Undurraga DM, Harasty PJ, Glaser SL, Morton LM, Holly EA (2006) Changes in cancer registry coding for lymphoma subtypes: reliability over time and relevance for surveillance and study. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 15:630–638

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Havener L (2006) The 2005 Summary of Quality Assessments of CINA Deluxe. North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, Inc

Download references

Acknowledgments

This project was supported in part by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under cooperative agreement U75/CCU515998 to the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, and the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End-Results Program under contract N01-CN-67001 from the National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Epidemiology Program, Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, University of Hawaii, 1236 Lauhala Street, Honolulu, HI, 96813, USA

    Jennifer F. Yamamoto & Marc T. Goodman

Authors
  1. Jennifer F. Yamamoto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Marc T. Goodman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marc T. Goodman.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Yamamoto, J.F., Goodman, M.T. Patterns of leukemia incidence in the United States by subtype and demographic characteristics, 1997–2002. Cancer Causes Control 19, 379–390 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-007-9097-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-007-9097-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation