A CLUSTER OF CHILDHOOD LEUKEMIA NEAR A NUCLEAR-REACTOR IN NORTHERN GERMANY

Between February 1990 and December 1995, professionals diagnosed six c ases of childhood leukemia among residents of the small rural communit y of Elbmarsch in Northern Germany. Five of these cases were diagnosed in only a 16-mo period between February 1990 and May 1991. All cases lived in close proximity (i.e., 500-4 500 m) to Germany's largest capa city nuclear boiling-water reactor. We calculated standardized inciden ce ratios and exact 95% confidence intervals for a 5-km-radius circula r area around the plant. The standardized incidence ratio for the time period 1990-1995 was 460 (95% confidence interval: 210, 1 030). The a nalysis was restricted further to the years 1990 and 1991, and the sta ndardized incidence ratio increased to 1 180 (95% confidence interval: 490, 2 830). Presently, this cluster of childhood leukemia cases cann ot be explained in terms of established and putative risk factors - in cluding radiation from medical sources - for childhood leukemia.