Not All Populations of Hispanic Children Have an Increased Frequency of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

The frequency of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has been reported with a higher incidence among the populations of Hispanic children. However, in the article by Montes-Rodríguez and colleagues, they found that in the Puerto Rican population, the frequency was below the incidence reported for the U.S. Hispanic pediatric population, but they found that the incidence of ALL had an annual increase of 5%. In other Hispanic pediatric populations during the 1980s, the incidence of ALL was found to be even lower than the general rate in the United States. However, in less than 20 years that incidence had already been exceeded. It is evident that the Hispanic pediatric population is more susceptible to develop ALL than other populations, so it is important to consider that what is happening to the pediatric population of Puerto Rico gives us a great opportunity to identify risk factors that could potentially explain this increase. It is more likely that the risk factors that are capable of causing ALL could be identified in their role in the origin of the disease in populations with high susceptibility, given the greater number of cases of ALL that said factor is causing in that population. See related article by Montes-Rodríguez et al., p. 1030.