HODGKIN DISEASE IN IRANIAN CHILDREN

The epidemiological pattern of Hodgkin disease (HD) was studied in 139 Iranian children with an age range of 2.5-15 years (mean age 8.3) over a 17-year period (1972-1989). The main features observed were: a high male to female ratio of 3.2:1, a high frequency of HD in toddlers and young school children (73%), the prevalence of mixed cellularity subtype (74.5%) and rare occurrence of lymphocyte depletion subtype (2%) the high occurrence of constitutional symptoms (57%) and the high rate of stage III and IV patients (73.5%). Response to the treatment consisting mainly of chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy was favourable and overall and disease-free survival rates of 91.4% and 74.2% were achieved over a follow up period of 6 months - 17 years. According to these findings the epidemiological pattern of Iranian children with HD is similar to that occurring in rural areas of developed countries.