Background: The aim of this paper is to present the epidemiological ch
aracteristics of time, subject and place of lymphomas in children resi
ding in Mexico City, Mexico (MC). Methods: The type of study was a ret
rospective hospital survey, All records of children with lymphomas reg
istered between 1982 and 1991 at the main hospitals that treat childre
n with cancer in MC were reviewed, Neoplasms were classified into Hodg
kin's disease (HD) and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NonHL), Trend and inci
dence by sex, age and area of residence in MC were evaluated. Time of
diagnosis, as well as parental occupation and educational level, were
registered. Results: A trend was only observed for HD in the total gro
up (r:0.62; P = 0.05), In 1991, incidence for HD was 6.12 (rates x 10(
6)) and 3.87 for NonHL, The highest average incidence was found in chi
ldren 5-9 years of age (5.40) for HD, acid in the age groups of 1-4 an
d 5-9 (3.10 and 3.33, respectively), for NonHL, Incidence was higher a
mong boys for both lymphoma categories, but the male-to-female ratio w
as much higher in HD. Time of diagnosis, incidence in terms of place o
f residence, and parental educational level and occupation also differ
ed from one lymphoma category to the other. Conclusion: The epidemiolo
gy of HD is different from that of NonHL, both showing a pattern simil
ar to that of Latin American children.