Incidence of acute and chronic leukemias in rural area at tertiary care teaching hospital: a five years of study

Abstract

Introduction: Leukemias are neoplastic proliferations of haematopoietic cells and form a major proportion of haematopoietic neoplasms that are diagnosed worldwide. Aims: To chart out the incidence of four major types of leukemias presenting for the first time to Hospital located in rural region. Methods: It was a prospective and retrospective study of 156 patients carried out in the department of Pathology located in rural area over a five years period between May 2006 and May 2011. Diagnosis was based on peripheral blood count, peripheral blood smear and bone marrow examination for morphology along with cytochemistry study whenever required. Results: In this study, commonest leukemia was chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) followed by Acute lymphoid leukemia (ALL), Acute myeloid leukemia(AML) and then chronic lymphoid leukemia (CLL). Out of total 156 cases, 90 were male and 66 were females with Male: Female ratio is 1.36:1. Acute lymphoid leukemia was the most common type of leukaemia in the children and adolescents. Myeloid neoplasms were most common in adults. Conclusion: CML was commonest type of leukemia followed by acute lymphoid leukemia. Male predominance was seen in all types of leukemia and age has significant effect on type of leukemia. Keywords: Incidence, Leukemia, Rural India, Tertiary care teaching hospital