HODGKINS AND NON-HODGKINS-LYMPHOMA - ANALYSIS OF POPULATION-BASED DATA FROM THE EASTERN PROVINCE OF SAUDI-ARABIA

Background: In 1985 a computerized population-based tumour registry wa s initiated for the whole of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia over a 2-year period (1987-1988). Objectives: This study was designed to a nalyse data on patients with Hodgkin's disease (HD) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). Methods: The computerized population-based tumour regi stry data was reviewed to identify these patients with HD and NHL. Res ults: We identified 40 patients with HD and 101 with NHL. Their mean a ge +/- SD was 30.8 +/- 19.5 and 44.1 +/- 22.9 years, respectively. The ir median age was 32 years. Almost two-thirds of patients were Saudis and 73% were males; children below 10 years constituted only 2% of the whole series. The male to female ratios were 5.6:1 and 1.2:1 for HD a nd NHL, respectively. On average, NHL patients were older than those w ith HD and the oldest age-group among those with NHL were those with i ntermediate-grade histology. The census obtained for the Eastern Provi nce allowed for the first time an estimation of the incidence rate per 100 000 for patients at various age-groups and different histology. T he crude incidence rate of HD and NHL per 100 000 was higher for non-S audis (6.53) compared with Saudis (4.77). It was also higher in non-Sa udi males (8.63 per 100 000) than in non-Saudi females (2.60 per 100 0 00). The age-standardized incidence rates per 100 000 for lymphosarcom a and Hodgkin's disease, was 8.4 and 2.8. The corresponding figures fo r Saudi females were 5.5 and 0.9. For non-Saudi males and females the figures were 15.5 and 1.2 (males) and 11 and 0.4. Conclusion: We concl ude that the data about HD and NHL derived from our population-based r egistry serve as the first population-based information that can be co mpared with regional and other international data.