Prevalence of Acute and Chronic Forms of Leukemia in Various Regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan: Needs Much More to be done!

Anwar Ul Haq,Abid Ullah,Haya Hussain,Kiramat Ali Shah,Najm Ur Rahman,- Kifayatullah Kifayatullah,Shujaat Ahmad,Asaf Khan

doi:10.3329/bjms.v18i2.40689

Anwar Ul Haq, Abid Ullah + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3329/bjms.v18i2.40689

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Abstract

Background and objective: Leukemia is one of the fatal diseases and their morbidity and mortality rates increases day by day all over the world. This piece of research study was designed in order to find out the prevalence of different types of leukemia in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan during January 2015 to December 2016. Material and Method: The retrospective research study was carried out at Institute of Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine (IRNUM) Peshawar. A data of 400 admitted patients of leukemia were evaluated. Result: It was observed that acute leukemia (80%) was more prevalent than chronic leukemia (20%). Amongst types of leukemia, Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) 49.5% (n=198) was more prevalent than Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) 31.25% (n=125), Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) 10% (n=40) and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) 9.25% (n=37) was less prevalent in this study. It was also found that leukemia was more prevalent in male patients 64.5% (n=258) as compared to females 35.5% (n=142) and male to female ratio was 1.8:1. Most of the patients were under the age of 20 years. Conclusion: Acute leukemia was more prevalent than chronic leukemia during this study in this part of the country and needs to be address. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol.18(2) 2019 p.222-227

Highlights

The word leukemia literally means malignancies of white blood cells; a case rarely developing from red blood cells precursors, erythroleukemia, called Di-Guglielmo’s disease[1].Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) is the most common malignancy diagnosed in children
The current study showed that acute leukemia is more prevalent than chronic leukemia in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province including both sides of tribal areas across Pak Afghan border from January 2015 to December 2016.This piece of research study revealed that ALL (49.5%, n=198)is more common in children as earlier research studies reported that ALL suffered children more than adults in the past[23].This study revealed that ALL is more common and more prevalent under the age of 10 years than Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) (31.25%, n=125)
In the current study Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) is more common in adult patients and contributed 9.25% (n=37) of the total (n=400) leukemia patients as CLL is consider leukemia of old age population and more prevalent above 60 years and uncommon below 40 years of age[24].This piece of research study indicated that Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML)

Summary

Introduction

The word leukemia literally means malignancies of white blood cells; a case rarely developing from red blood cells precursors, erythroleukemia, called Di-Guglielmo’s disease[1].ALL is the most common malignancy diagnosed in children. Due to lack of information and sufficient work in this field and its significances to the development of health of the community and importance to the socioeconomic aspect for the development of the nation, this piece of research project was designed to investigate the prevalence of different types of leukemia in various residential areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. This data was collected at Institute of Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine (IRNUM) Peshawar which is the only recognized cancer hospital in this province and people frequently visits here for treatment.

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