Childhood leukaemia in Romania and the Chernobyl accident

Following the WHO recommendations, we focused our study on short-term consequence of the Chernobyl accident on childhood leukaemia. The present study was designed to show whether the frequency of leukaemia has increased during the time period following the nuclear accident. We studied the frequency of childhood leukaemia, its geographical distribution in Romania, and the possible changes of this distribution after the Chernobyl accident. For the period before the accident (1981-1985), the distribution of the cumulative mortality from leukaemia is shown. The mortality for the entire country was 13.54/100,000 for all age-groups (14.92 for the 0-4 years old age group, 15.68 for the 5-9, and 10.13 for 10-14). After the Chernobyl accident, the geographical distribution of cumulative mortality from childhood leukaemia has somewhat changed. The rate for the entire country was 13.24/100,000 (13.72 for 0-4 years old, 16.64 for 5-9 years old, and 9.83 for 10-14 years old). Four districts showed a greater increase of the mortality rate. The age distribution of the mortality in these districts during the two time periods, is shown. (author)