Age as a Risk Factor of Relapse Occurrence in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia-L1 (All-L1) in Children

Abstract

Introduction: Relapse in children with leukemia is a phase appearing the leukemia cells after complete remission; this situation can impact the children itself, parents and also the support system. Objective: To identify the factors related of relapse incidence in children with leukemia. Methods: This study was conducted by using a retrospective cohort study design based on medical record data from Dr. Wahidin Sudirohusodo Hospital, Makassar from December 2013 until August 2014. Study samples were children of 0 month – 18 years old diagnosed of having Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia-L1. They are treated with chemotherapy and divided into relapse and non-relapse samples. Results: From 42 relapse and non-relapse samples, there were 35.7% (15) relapse samples and 64.3% (27) non relapse samples. Bivariate analyses revealed that among 1-10 year, there were 31.4% (11) with relapse and 68.6% (24) without relapse. Among the samples aged more than 10 years old, there were 57.1% (4) samples with relapse and 42.9% (3) samples without relapse, with p=0.225 (p>0.05). In terms of interval time from first diagnosis until the occurrence of relapse, the median value was 1.80 in 1-10 year-old group. In the group of >10 years old, the median value was 0.84 and p=0.207 (p>0.05). Conclusion: Age did not give any influence in the incidence of relapse in children with ALL-L1 and the interval time when the first diagnosed until relapse.