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Trends and Geographical Distribution of Childhood Leukemia in Greece in Relation to the Chernobyl Accident

Dept. of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Athens University Medical School, Athens, Greece

Charalambos Proukakis

Dept. of Nuclear Medicine, Athens University Medical School, Athens, Greece

Donald Tong

Dept. of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA

Dimitrios Kassimos

Dept. of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Athens University Medical School, Athens, Greece

Fani Athanassiadou-Piperopoulou

Dept. of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, Ahepa Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece

Stavros Haidas

Dept. of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, Agia Sophia Children's Hospital, Athens, Greece

Maria Kalmanti

Dept. of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, University Hospital, Heraklion, Greece

Dimitrios Koliouskas

Dept. of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, Hippokrateion Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece

Helen Kosmidis

Dept. of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, Aglaia Kyriakou Children's Hospital, Athens, Greece

Annie Louizi

Dept. of Nuclear Medicine, Athens University Medical School, Athens, Greece

Simos Simopoulos

Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Nuclear Engineering Section, Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece

Dimitrios Trichopoulos

Dept. of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA

Parts of Greece have been exposed to fallout radiation from the Chernobyl accident as much as any of the countries boardering with the former Soviet Union, because of the direction of the prevailing winds after the accident. Although fallout radiation did not reach levels expected to be associated with measurable effects, there is widespread concern in Greece that the incidence of childhood leukemia may be rising in the more heavily affected parts of Greece. Patient discharge data from all Greek hospitals treating childhood leukemia were used to calculate the annual incidence of the disease from January 1980 to June 1986 (preaccident period), from July 1986 to June 1988 (immediate postaccident period) and from July 1988 to June 1991 ("relevant" post-accident period, that accommodates the presumed latent period of the disease). Fallout radiation measurements (in Bq/kg Cs-137) were used to create 17 regions of similar (within regions) but highly variable (between regions) levels of fallout deposition. Background radiation (in Bq/kg Ra-226) and annual incidence of childhood leukemia by region were also estimated. There was no evidence of increased incidence of childhood leukemia during the immediate or the "relevant" post-Chemobyl period in any part of the country. Furthermore, regression analyses did not show any significant or suggestive association of childhood leukemia by region with either background or fallout radiation. These results indicate that the Chemobyl accident did not affect noticeably the incidence of childhood leukemia in Greece during the five-year post accident period.

Key Words: childhood leumekia • Greece • Chemobyl accident • low level ionizing radiation

Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, Vol. 22, No. 2, 127-131 (1994)
DOI: 10.1177/140349489402200208


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