SURVIVAL-TIME AND SEASON-OF-TREATMENT INITIATION IN CHILDREN WITH ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC-LEUKEMIA

We examined survival in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) a s a function of season-of-treatment initiation. Survival for 1797 chil dren aged 15 and under from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Re sults (SEER) cancer registry, diagnosed and treated from 1973-1986 was obtained. There was no significant seasonal pattern for survival by s eason-of-treatment initiation. Neither age, gender, nor treatment type served as effect modifiers or confounders in this relationship. Femal e gender, age between one and ten years, and certain broad categories of treatment type were significant predictors of survival in separate univariate analyses, however. The nonsignificance of the results do no t support the concept that season-of-treatment initiation is a prognos tic factor in survival from ALL in children.