“How common is leukemia in children?”
I've noticed that there are a few children in my area with diagnosed cases of leukemia (I live in a large neighborhood). How common is this cancer in children?
2 Answers
Hello,
Your question is quite common whenever a large group of people are diagnosed with a rare illness in a particular area. Please be assured that these illnesses are not contagious and cannot be passed from one patient to another. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society have an excellent website, www.lls.org which has information on the incidence of leukemias and lymphomas. They quote that 38.7% of all pediatric cancers are these types and account for 24.7% of all cancers in young adults <20 years of age. The overall incidence of these is however rare. The numbers quoted are 7.2 diagnoses per 100000 subjects, 4.6 for leukemias and 2.6 per lymphomas. Again, they have not been shown to be contagious.
Looking at the above website should be reassuring.
Thanks.
Your question is quite common whenever a large group of people are diagnosed with a rare illness in a particular area. Please be assured that these illnesses are not contagious and cannot be passed from one patient to another. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society have an excellent website, www.lls.org which has information on the incidence of leukemias and lymphomas. They quote that 38.7% of all pediatric cancers are these types and account for 24.7% of all cancers in young adults <20 years of age. The overall incidence of these is however rare. The numbers quoted are 7.2 diagnoses per 100000 subjects, 4.6 for leukemias and 2.6 per lymphomas. Again, they have not been shown to be contagious.
Looking at the above website should be reassuring.
Thanks.
Leukemia is the most common cancer in children, accounting for about 1/3 of cancers in children.
