TRENDS IN INFANT LEUKEMIA IN WEST-GERMANY IN RELATION TO IN-UTERO EXPOSURE DUE TO THE CHERNOBYL ACCIDENT

A temporary increase in the incidence of infant leukaemia in Greece wa s reported by Petridou et al., which was attributed to in utero exposu re to ionising radiation resulting from the Chernobyl accident. We per formed a similar analysis based on the data of the German Childhood Ca ncer Registry in order to check whether the observation could be confi rmed by means of independent data. Applying the same definitions as Pe tridou et al., we also observed an increased incidence of infant leuka emia in a cohort of children born after the Chernobyl accident. More d etailed analyses, regarding areas with different contamination levels and dose rate gradients over time after the accident, showed, however, no clear trend with regard to exposure. It would therefore appear les s likely that the observed effect was caused by exposure to ionising r adiation due to the Chernobyl accident.