INFANT LEUKEMIA AFTER IN-UTERO EXPOSURE TO RADIATION FROM CHERNOBYL

THERE has been no documented increase in childhood leukaemia following the Chernobyl accident. However, different forms of childhood leukaem ia may not be equally susceptible to radiation carcinogenesis. Infant leukaemia is a distinct form associated with a specific genetic abnorm ality. Outside the former Soviet Union, contamination resulting from t he Chernobyl accident has been highest in Greece and Austria and high also in the Scandinavian countries(1-4). All childhood leukaemia cases diagnosed throughout Greece since 1 January 1980 have been recorded. Here we report that infants exposed in utero to ionizing radiation fro m the Chernobyl accident had 2.6 limes the incidence of leukaemia comp ared to unexposed children (95% confidence interval, 1.4 to 5.1; P app roximate to 0.003), and those born to mothers residing in regions with high radioactive fallout were at higher risk of developing infant leu kaemia. No significant difference in leukaemia incidence was found amo ng children aged 12 to 47 months. Preconceptional irradiation had no d emonstrable effect on leukaemia risk at any of the studied age groups.