Abstract
Introduction: According to the statistics, cancer is now the second leading cause of disease-related death. Different cancers are more common among various age groups. Reportedly, leukemias are the most common pediatric cancer, and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is known as the most prevalent cancer in children of this age.
Objectives: This study aims to determine the mortality rate of ALL in the pediatric age group admitted to Shafa Hospital in Khuzestan province, Iran.
Materials and Methods: The present descriptive epidemiological study was conducted on children and adolescents with ALL diagnoses in 2016 to 2019. In this regard, data on mortality caused by ALL in 98 patients was analyzed in a period of two years.
Results: Based on the findings, 98 patients comprised 60 boys and 40 girls. The most common age group was 2–10 years (71.4%), and pre-B ALL (81.6%) was the most prevalent ALL subtype. The mortality rate was 33% in 2016 and 8.8% in 2019. The highest mortality rate in terms of subtype was in the T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) subgroup (41.6%), and the highest mortality rate based on the affected age group was in children over ten years (37.5%).
Conclusion: The five-year survival rate of ALL was 67% in 2016, and the three-year survival rate was 91.2% in 2019 in this region, mostly in males and in the age group of 2–10 years. Moreover, the survival rate was associated with the disease type and the diagnosis age.