Abstract:
Introduction: Leukemia is a type of cancer that affects the body’s blood-forming tis-sues, leading to the production of dysfunctional blood cells. Among the various forms of leukemia, two specific types are most commonly found in children aged one month to 18 years. Despite its importance, there is still a lack of localized research on childhood leuke-mia. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of leukemia in children and adolescents (aged 1–18 years) at the National Cancer Institute in Misurata, Libya, and to evaluate its po-tential association with age and gender.
Materials and methods: Data were collected retrospectively from the medical records of the Pediatric Oncology Department at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Misurata, covering the years 2020 to 2024. The study included 140 pediatric patients (both males and females) aged from one day to 18 years who were diagnosed with leukemia, as classified by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) for cancer diagnosis and incidence moni-toring. The analysis aimed to determine the distribution of leukemia incidence rates and to identify the most prevalent types across different age groups and genders.
Results: 140 cases of leukaemia were documented in this study. The gender distribu-tion showed a higher incidence among males, with 85 cases (60.7%), compared to females, who had 55 cases (39.3%). An age-specific analysis indicated that the highest frequency of diagnoses occurred in the 0–5 years age group, with 61 cases (43.6%). The 5–10 years age group with 49 cases (35%) and the 10–20 years age group with 30 cases (21.4%) followed this. In terms of leukaemia subtypes, acute lymphocytic leukaemia (ALL) was the most common, accounting for 96 cases (68.6%). This was followed by acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), with 29 cases (20.7%). The remaining cases consisted of other types of leukaemia, totalling 15 cases (10.7%).
Conclusion: Acute lymphocytic leukaemia (ALL) is the most common cancer diag-nosed in children at the National Cancer Institute. Its incidence is higher in younger age groups and occurs more frequently in males than in females.