Introduction: Leukemia in the pediatric age group is widely regarded as the third most common malignancy and contributes to significant burden due to the resultant morbidity and mortality. Accordingly, it is undoubtedly warranted to thoroughly evaluate and consequently establish the epidemiological characteristics in developing middle eastern countries with scarce resources, such as Jordan, to achieve effective risk stratification and introduction of appropriate measures.
Methods: Extensive and comprehensive data on a cohort consisting of 2038 pediatric males and females of different nationalities residing in Jordan who were diagnosed with leukemia during the timespan of 2000-2018 was obtained from the official cancer reporting body in Jordan, the Jordan Cancer Registry. Epidemiological features and characteristics, including overall survival and crude incidence, of leukemia in the pediatric age group were evaluated through statistical analysis.
Results: A total of 2038 pediatric patient with a mean age of 7.86 ± 5.36 years old and a male predominance of 59.2% were included in the analysis. Acute lymphocytic leukemia was the most commonly encountered malignancy as reported in 68.2% of the study population, followed by acute myeloid leukemia which was reported in 21.6%. The overall survival was 94.7%, 92.5%, 92.2%, 92.1%, and 92.0% at 1-year, 2-year, 3-year, 4-year, and 5-year interval, respectively. Furthermore, a statistically significant decline in the crude incidence of pediatric leukemia in Jordan over 18 years was identified with a crude incidence estimated effect of -0.059.
Conclusion: Over a span of 18 years, leukemia in the pediatric age group in Jordan demonstrated a significant decline of approximately 5.9% in the crude incidence along with a generally comparable overall survival to the witnessed rates in the international reports.
No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
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