SURVIVAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC FEATURES IN CHILDREN WITH ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC LEUKEMIA

BackgroundAcute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a malignant blood cancer of T-cell or B-cell lineages. ObjectivesThe aim was to obtain local data on the demographic features of pediatric patients with ALL and correlate them with a five-year survival rate. Patients and MethodsA retrospective cohort study was performed on 94 ALL pediatric patients aged 1-14 admitted to the Hiwa Hospital from 2014 to 2016. The diagnostic methods, clinical features, and histological and biochemical parameters were reviewed. Further, a five-year survival rate was assessed. ResultsThe mean±SD (standard deviation) of patients’ ages at diagnosis was 5.2±3.1 years, ranging from 1 to 14. Males were 57.4%, and females were 42.6%, with a male-to-female ratio of (1.35:1). Most patients (61.7%) suffered from the low-risk (A), and the majority of patients (90.4%) were in remission. The five-year survival rate was 80.9%. The associations of age groups, gender, white blood cell (WBC) groups, risk groups, and post-induction status with a five-year survival rate were insignificant (p-values of >.05). The association of immunophenotyping with the five-year survival rate was statistically significant (p-value = .014). ConclusionThe 5-year survival rate was 80.9% in the current study. Further, although the frequency of some characteristics was more than others, the associations of the patient characteristics with the five-year survival rates were insignificant, except for the association of the five-year survival rate with immunophenotyping which was significant.