Yale Bulletin and Calendar

November 7, 2003|Volume 32, Number 10

Study: Recovery rates from childhood leukemia linked to race, ethnicity

Black, Hispanic and Native American children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) have worse survival rates than white and Asian children, even with the availability of modern therapies, Yale researchers reported in the Oct. 15 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Dr. Nina Kadan-Lottick, associate research scientist in pediatrics at the School of Medicine and the principal investigator, led a team of researchers who conducted a population-based study of 5,000 children younger than age 20 who were diagnosed with ALL, the most common childhood malignancy in the United States.

The team used the National Cancer Institute's Standardized Epidemiology End Result database to determine survival rates according to race and ethnicity. The database includes ethnicity and survival information from nine population centers around the country.

"We found that in the modern treatment era, black and Hispanic children still have worse outcome from leukemia than comparable white children," says Kadan-Lottick. "Survival ratio was 1.5 times worse for black children and 1.8 times worse for Hispanic children. The largest difference by race or ethnicity was observed among children diagnosed between ages 1 and 9 years."

Kadan-Lottick says the reason for the disparity is unclear, and further attention is needed to answer this question. The possibilities that must be explored include: differences in response to the same medications, differences in access to care and differences in compliance with therapy.

Previous studies have been based on the experience of a single referral center, Kadan-Lottick notes."The advantage of our study is that it is based on a national population-based registry."

Other authors on the study include Kirsten K. Ness and James G. Gurney of the University of Minnesota; and Dr. Smita Bhatia of the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, California.

-- By Karen Peart

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Harold Koh is appointed as next Law School dean

Clinton asserts 'shared responsibilities' among nations . . .

'Women Mentoring Women' program launched

Budget plans for the coming year

Event to explore ethics of media coverage in wartime

Colleges' sustainable dining initiatives are focus of conference

Women astronauts will talk about their 'Place in Space'

Computer scientists to develop ways to protect privacy online

Exhibit looks at Robert Damora's '70 Years of Total Architecture'

Yale Rep show explores collision of politics and culture in America

Her native landscape inspires Irish writer's 'desperate themes'

DeStefano hopes 'game plan' will bring him to Olympics

Study: Recovery rates from childhood leukemia . . .

Memory-enhancing drugs may actually worsen . . .

Dr. Robert Arnstein, counselor to generations of students, dies

World-renowned oncologist Dr. Paul Calabresi passes away

Rare form of obsessive compulsive disorder linked to gene mutation

Older patients may not be prepared to receive diagnosis, study says

Symposium will examine 'American Literary Globalism' . . .

Koerner Center to showcase emeritus faculty member's works

Researchers sequence and analyze the DNA of an ancient parasite

Two books on slavery are winners of the Douglass Prize

United Way Campaign nears halfway mark in meeting its goal

Yale Books in Brief

Campus Notes