Abstract
Clusters of cases of childhood leukaemia have been reported near nuclear installations. They are difficult to explain in terms of the level of environmental radiation, and viral etiologies have been suggested. The selective nature of the data makes rigorous analysis difficult. Evidence for a general tendency of leukaemia to cluster is equivocal.
References
- 1 Alexander, F. E. (1991). Investigations of localized spatial clustering, and extra-Poisson variation, in The Geographical Epidemiology of Childhood Leukaemia and non-Hodgkin Lymphomas in Great Britain, 1966–83. Studies on Medical and Population Subjects, No. 53, G. Draper, ed. HMSO, London, pp. 69–76.
- 2 Alexander, F. E. (1993). Viruses, clusters and clustering of childhood leukaemia: a new perspective?, European Journal of Cancer, Series A 29, 1424–1443.
- 3 V. Beral, E. Roman & M. Bobrow, eds (1993). Childhood Cancer and Nuclear Installations. British Medical Journal Publishing Group, London.
- 4 Bithell, J. F. & Stewart, A. M. (1975). Pre-natal irradiation and childhood malignancy: a review of British data from the Oxford survey, British Journal of Cancer 31, 271–287.
- 5 Bithell, J. F., Dutton, S. J., Draper, G. J. & Neary, N. M. (1994). The distribution of childhood leukaemias and non-Hodgkin lymphomas near nuclear installations in England and Wales, British Medical Journal 309, 501–505.
- 6 Boyle, P., Walker, A. M. & Alexander, F. E. (1996). Historical aspects of leukaemia clusters, in Methods for Investigating Localized Clustering of Disease, F. E. Alexander & P. Boyle, eds. IARC, Lyon, pp. 1–20.
- 7 Cartwright, R. A., Alexander, F. E., McKinney, P. A. & Ricketts, T. J. (1990). Leukaemia and Lymphoma: An Atlas of Distribution within Areas of England and Wales 1984–1988. Leukaemia Research Fund, London.
- 8 Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE) (1988). Second Report. Investigation of the Possible Increased Incidence of Leukaemia in Young People near the Dounreay Nuclear Establishment, Caithness, Scotland. HMSO, London.
- 9 Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE) (1996). Fourth Report. The Incidence of Cancer and Leukaemia in Young People in the Vicinity of the Sellafield Site, West Cumbria. HMSO, London.
- 10 Committee on the Possible Effects of Electromagnetic Fields on Biologic Systems (1966). Possible Health Effects of Exposure to Residential Electric and Magnetic Fields. National Academy Press, Washington.
- 11 Darby, S. C. & Doll, R. (1987). Fallout, radiation doses near Dounreay, and childhood leukaemia, British Medical Journal 294, 603–607.
- 12 Doll, R. (1989). The epidemiology of childhood leukaemia, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A 152, 341–351.
- 13 Doll, R. & Wakeford, R. (1997). Risk of childhood cancer from fetal irradiation, British Journal of Radiology 70, 130–139.
- 14 G. Draper, ed. (1991). The Geographical Epidemiology of Childhood Leukaemia and non-Hodgkin Lymphomas in Great Britain, 1966–83. Studies on Medical and Population Subjects, No. 53. HMSO, London.
- 15 Draper, G. J., Birch, J. M., Bithell, J. F., Kinnier Wilson, L. M., Leck, I., Marsden, H. B., Morris Jones, P. H., Stiller, C. A. & Swindell, R. (1982). Childhood Cancer in Britain: Incidence, Survival and Mortality. Studies on Medical and Population Subjects, No. 37. HMSO, London.
- 16 Ederer, F., Myers, M. H. & Mantel, N. A. (1964). A statistical problem in space and time: do leukemia cases come in clusters?, Biometrics 20, 626–638.
- 17 Fedrick, J. & Alberman, E. D. (1972). Reported influenza in pregnancy and subsequent cancer in the child, British Medical Journal ii, 485–488.
- 18 Gardner, M. J. (1991). Overview of the geographical approach to investigating childhood leukaemia, in The Geographical Epidemiology of Childhood Leukaemia and non-Hodgkin Lymphomas in Great Britain, 1966–83. Studies on Medical and Population Subjects, No. 53, G. Draper, ed. HMSO, London, pp. 127–131.
- 19 Gardner, M. J., Snee, M. P., Hall, A. J., Powell, C. A., Downes, S. & Terrell, J. D. (1990). Results of case-control study of leukaemia and lymphoma among young people near Sellafield nuclear plant in West Cumbria, British Medical Journal 300, 423–429.
- 20 Gilman, E. A. & Knox, E. G. (1991). Temporal-spatial distribution of childhood leukaemias and non-Hodgkin lymphomas in Great Britain, in The Geographical Epidemiology of Childhood Leukaemia and non-Hodgkin Lymphomas in Great Britain, 1966–83. Studies on Medical and Population Subjects, No. 53, G. Draper, ed. HMSO, London, pp. 77–99.
- 21 Greaves, M. F. (1997). Aetiology of acute leukaemia, Lancet 349, 344–349.
- 22 Jablon, S., Hrubec, Z. & Boice, J. D. (1991). Cancer in populations living near nuclear facilities—a survey of mortality nationwide and incidence in 2 states, Journal of the American Medical Association 265, 1403–1408.
- 23 Kinlen, L. J. (1995). Epidemiological evidence for an infective basis in childhood leukaemia, British Journal of Cancer 71, 1–5.
- 24 Kneale, G. W. (1971). Excess sensitivity of pre-leukaemics to pneumonia, British Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine 25, 152–159.
- 25 Linet, M. S. (1985). The Leukemias: Epidemiologic Aspects. Oxford University Press, New York.
- 26 Little, M. P., Charles, M. W. & Wakeford, R. (1995). A review of the risks of leukemia in relation to parental pre-conception exposure to radiation, Health Physics 68, 299–310.
- 27 McLaughlin, J. R., King, W. D., Anderson, T. W., Clarke, E. A. & Ashmore, J. P. (1993). Paternal radiation exposure and leukaemia in offspring: the Ontario case-control study, British Medical Journal 307, 959–966.
- 28 O'Leary, L. M., Hicks, A. M., Peters, J. M. & London, S. (1991). Parental occupational exposures and risk of childhood cancer: a review, American Journal of Industrial Medicine 20, 17–35.
- 29 Preston, D. L., Kusumi, S., Tomonaga, M., Izumi, S., Ron, E., Kuramoto, A., Kamada, N., Dohy, H., Matsui, T., Nonaka, H., Thompson, D. E., Soda, M. & Mabuchi, K. (1994). Cancer incidence in atomic bomb survivors. Part III: Leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma, 1950–1987, Radiation Research 137, S68–S97.
- 30 Shore, R. E., Pasternack, B. S. & McCrea Curnen, M. G. (1976). Relating influenza epidemics to childhood leukemia in tumor registries without a defined population base: a critique with suggestions for improved methods, American Journal of Epidemiology 103, 527–535.
- 31 Smith, P. G. (1982). Spatial and temporal clustering,in Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention, D. Schottenfeld & J. F. Fraumeni, eds. W.B. Saunders, Philadelphia.
- 32 Viel, J. -F., Pobel, D. & Carré, D. (1995). Incidence of leukemia in young people around the La Hague nuclear waste reprocessing plant: a sensitivity analysis, Statistics in Medicine 14, 2459–2472.
- 33 Wakeford, R. & Binks, K. (1989). Childhood leukaemia and nuclear installations, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A 152, 61–86.
- 34 Weiss, H. A., Darby, S. C., Fearn, T. & Doll, R. (1995). Leukemia mortality after X-ray treatment for ankylosing spondylitis, Radiation Research 142, 1–11.
- 35 Zipursky, A., Poon, A. & Doyle, J. (1992). Leukemia in Down syndrome: a review, Pediatric Hematology and Oncology 9, 139–149.
