Incidence of childhood lymphoma in northern Israel, 1973-1990

We retrospectively analyzed all 164 cases of pediatric lymphoma diagnosed in northern Israel during the 18-year period from 1973 to 1990. Our findings generally conformed to those of other studies with regard to annual incidence (24.7/million), age at diagnosis (5 to 9 years for Jewish males, later for others), histology (Hodgkin's disease most commonly), and male predominance. The northern Israeli pediatric lymphoma pattern of incidence is similar to the Asian-African-South American pattern and unlike that of Europe or North America; in Israel, lymphoma rather than brain tumor is the second most common childhood malignancy. The nodular sclerosing variant was the most common histology seen in Hodgkin's lymphoma (especially in females), followed by mixed cellularity. Malignancies are generally more common in Jewish children but lymphomas in particular were seen more often in Arabs (28.7/million), while the Ashkenasi (20.8/million) and Sephardi (21.6/million) Jewish populations had similar incidences. The high rate of consanguineous marriages among Arabs and their lower socioeconomic level may explain the high incidence of lymphomas in this group.