INCIDENCE OF CHILDHOOD ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC-LEUKEMIA (ALL) AND POPULATION-BASED TREATMENT RESULTS IN SWITZERLAND - EXPERIENCES WITH 507 STUDY AND 149 NONSTUDY PATIENTS
A. Stupnicki et al., INCIDENCE OF CHILDHOOD ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC-LEUKEMIA (ALL) AND POPULATION-BASED TREATMENT RESULTS IN SWITZERLAND - EXPERIENCES WITH 507 STUDY AND 149 NONSTUDY PATIENTS, Medical and pediatric oncology, 25(2), 1995, pp. 79-83
Of 656 patients with ALL (all types) diagnosed in Switzerland during 4
consecutive I-year periods (1976-1979, 1980-1983, 1984-1987, 1988-199
1), 507 were officially registered on protocols (''study'' patients) w
hile 149 were not (''nonstudy'' patients). The mean incidence of 3.8/1
00,000 children <15 years/year is higher than reported for other Weste
rn countries. Evidence is presented suggesting that the 656 patients r
epresent only approximately 90% of all children with ALL residing in S
witzerland, indicating that the true incidence of ALL might even be hi
gher. The fraction of ''nonstudy'' patients fell from 40% (1976-1979)
to 15% (1984-1987). The rate of survival at 4 years of all patients wi
th ALL (''study'' and ''nonstudy'') increased by 17% du ri ng the th r
ee consecutive periods 1976-1979, 1980-1983, and 1984-1987. As expecte
d, a higher increase (20%) was observed in ''study'' patients and a st
atistically nonsignificant lower one (10%) in ''nonstudy'' patients. (
C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.