Abstract
Background: Burkitt lymphoma is one of the most common childhood cancers in Cameroon. Incidence rates of 5.9/100 000 and 2.58 per 100 000 have been reported in two studies in 2005 and 2012 amongst children below 15 years in the North-West Region.Aim: This study seeks to examine how Burkitt lymphoma incidence has varied between the various health districts of north-west Cameroon from 2003 to 2015.Setting: North-West region of Cameroon.Method: Ethics approval was obtained from the relevant university and Health Services Institutional Review Board. Population data was obtained from the regional delegation of public health. The Paediatric Oncology Networked Database registry from two hospitals and two pathology-based registries were reviewed for cases per year from the various districts. Age-standardised incidence rates were computed for all districts by year using the World Health Organizaion world standard populations.Results: A total of 317 cases were registered. Overall age-standardised incidence rate was 3.07 per 100 000. Annual incidence ranged from 0.09 in 2003 to 6.12 in 2010. The districts with the highest incidence rates for the entire study period include Nwa with 10.54; Ndop with 5.63; Benakuma with 5.48; Ako with 4.97; and Nkambe with 4.73.Conclusion: Clustering of Burkitt lymphoma is seen in the region, with the highest incidence in Nwa, Ndop, Benakuma, Ako and Nkambe. These districts should be prioritised for awareness creation campaigns. There is need for a population-based childhood cancer registry in the region, which will use both active and passive surveillance methods to record all childhood cancer cases.
Highlights
Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is a malignant neoplasm of lymphoid tissue, affecting the B-lymphocytes.[1]
Burkitt lymphoma development has been linked to Epstein-Barr virus infection and malaria,[4] and higher incidence rates have been reported amongst populations with higher burden of malaria, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).[5,6,7]
A total of 279 cases were registered in the two hospital-based registries; while 38 more were only recorded in the pathology-based registries
Summary
Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is a malignant neoplasm of lymphoid tissue, affecting the B-lymphocytes.[1] It mostly affects children between 2 and 15 years of age and is known to affect more boys than girls in the ratio of 1.5:1.2 Burkitt lymphoma is a clinically aggressive and rapidly growing tumour with a reported tumour doubling time of less than 3 days.[3] Burkitt lymphoma development has been linked to Epstein-Barr virus infection and malaria,[4] and higher incidence rates have been reported amongst populations with higher burden of malaria, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).[5,6,7] The most common sites of presentation of the disease as seen in Cameroon include the following: abdomen (76%), face (50%), spleen (36%), liver (20%), kidney (18%), paraspinal (9%), bone marrow (9%), external lymph nodes (7%), chest wall (4%), cerebrospinal fluid (4%), cranial nerves (3%), femur (2%) and testis (2%).[8] Diagnosis of BL is confirmed by histological and immunocytological demonstration of BL cells in tissue specimens.[3] Cytological examination of cerebrospinal fluid and bone marrow specimens is essential to ascertain metastasis and facilitate staging.[8]. Incidence rates of 5.9/100 000 and 2.58 per 100 000 have been reported in two studies in 2005 and 2012 amongst children below 15 years in the North-West Region
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