The Survival Rate of Childhood Leukemia and Its Related Factors in Kerman, Iran

Background and Purpose: Leukemia is the most prevalent type of cancer in children and its prognostic factors vary in different geographic locations. The aim of this study was to estimate the 5 years survival rate of children suffering from leukemia in Kerman, Iran and to investigate the factors which might influence it. Materials and Methods: This was a cohort study conducted on patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Cases were all younger than 15 years old admitted to Afzalipour Hospital, Kerman, Iran between 1998 and 2009, and included 219 patients. Survival rates were estimated by applying the Kaplan–Meier method. Log-rank test was used to estimate the statistical difference in survival probability and the effect of independent variables on survival was examined using Cox regression. All analyses were performed using STATA-12. Results: The cumulative 5 years rate of survival in this study was 58% and 43% for ALL and AML, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P = 0.0030). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that white blood cell (WBC) &ge 50,000 &mul (P = 0.0100) and relapse (P = 0.0060) of ALL patients has a significant effect on survival. In AML due to the small number of patients significant results were not achieved. The cumulative survival rate at the end of 1 year for low, medium and high-risk patients were estimated 97%, 94%, and 78%. Conclusion: Leukemia patients with and WBC &ge 50,000 &mul and a history of relapse had less survival.