MALIGNANT NEOPLASMS OF THE LYMPHATIC AND HEMATOPOIETIC SYSTEM IN CIRCUMPOLAR INUIT

Malignancies of the lymphatic and haematopoietic system in Circumpolar Inuit were studied as part of an international collaboration combinin g results from cancer registries for Alaska, Canada and Greenland, Low risk was observed for all such malignancies, including non-Hodgkin ly mphoma, Hodgkin's disease, multiple myeloma and the combined leukaemia s, Standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) of non-Hodgkin lymphoma ranged from 0.3 to 0.5 based on comparison populations in Connecticut (USA), Canada and Denmark, SIR of Hodgkins's disease ranged from 0.1 to 0.2, Acute leukaemias accounted for 78% of all microscopically verified le ukaemias and chronic leukaemias for 6%. No clear time trends were obse rved except for increasing rates of the combined leukaemias among wome n from the first to the second half of the study period, The epidemiol ogy of haematologic and lympoproliferative malignancies in Inuit is co mparable to results from Chinese and Japanese populations in Asia and may reflect protective environmental or genetic factors for these mali gnancies.