Epidemiologic aspects of neoplastic diseases in israeli immigrant population: II. Malignant neoplasms in childhood

All records of newly diagnosed malignant neoplasms among Israeli residents younger than 15 years of age were reviewed for a 5‐year period. In all, there were 594 children with malignancies, yielding a mean annual incidence of 14.1 per 100,000, with a male: female ratio of 1.2:1. Leukemia, tumor of brain and lymphoma constituted the three main types and 67.2% of all neoplasms. With most types, rates of incidence were higher among Arabic children than Jewish children, in contrast with available data regarding adults. The differences were most pronounced in Wilm's tumor and lymphoma. Only minimal differences in overall incidence were noted among the distinct Jewish ethnic groups, again in contrast with previous reports dealing with adult population. However, children of North African parentage had a different age pattern and a higher rate of malignant lymphoma.