Haematological Malignancies on the Island of Sardinia, 1974-1993: A Geographical Study

Abstract

We studied the geographical distribution of all cases of HM that were diagnosed among residents of Sardinia during the 20-year period from 1974 to 1993. Cases, grouped into three categories (lymphoproliferative diseases, myeloproliferative diseases, and total haematological malignancies), were assigned to the 356 municipalities of the island according to the reported residence of each patient. In each municipality, the relative risk (RR) of diagnosis was calculated for the three disease groups, for females, for males, and for the total population. The RR of diagnosis of HM was significantly different from 1 (p<0.05) for a limited number of estimates (5.4%), with almost as many instances of elevated RR as of reduced RR.