Childhood leukaemia

Leukaemia is a cancer of the blood. It is the most common cancer in children, accounting for around one third of cases.

Almost 500 children are diagnosed with leukaemia every year in the UK. More than half of these children are under the age of five years.

What is leukaemia?

The word ‘leukaemia’ means white blood. It is the term used to describe a group of cancers involving an excess of white blood cells.

Most other cancers take the form of solid tumours. In leukaemia, however, abnormal white blood cells multiply out of control and circulate through the body.

Types of childhood leukaemia

Leukaemia can be classified as either lymphoid or myeloid, denoting the type of white blood cell affected. It is also categorised as either acute or chronic, reflecting the speed of progression.

Almost all childhood leukaemias are of the acute form, meaning that they progress rapidly. Chronic leukaemias, which progress slowly, are very rare in childhood.

Acute lymphoblastic (lymphoid) leukaemia (ALL) is the most common type of leukaemia to affect children, accounting for more than 80% of all cases.

ALL is the only form of leukaemia – and one of the few forms of cancer – that is more common in children than in adults.

Most of the remaining cases of childhood leukaemia are acute myeloid leukaemia (AML).

Chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) makes up less than 5 per cent of the total (less than 15 children per year in the UK).

Read more: ALL | AML |CML | Treating childhood leukaemia

Incidence

Up to 500 children (aged 0 to 14 years) are diagnosed with leukaemia every year in the UK. This makes leukaemia the most common form of childhood cancer.

More than half of the children diagnosed with leukaemia are under the age of five years.

Incidence patterns are different for the different type of leukaemia:

Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is most common amongst three and four year olds. Risk increases rapidly after birth, peaks around the third or fourth year of life and then declines.
In contrast, the highest risk of acute myeloid leukaemia is in children aged less than two years; the risk in children aged two to nine years is lower and it then rises through the adolescent years.
Chronic myeloid leukaemia is exceptionally rare in children of any age.

Read more: Incidence of childhood leukaemia | Incidence of childhood cancer

Survival

Until the 1960s childhood leukaemia was incurable. Today more than 80 per cent of children diagnosed with leukaemia can be saved.

ALL has a better outlook than AML, with the survival rate for ALL now approaching 90 per cent, compared to 64 per cent for AML.

Hear from families affected by childhood cancer

Coping with the diagnosis of cancer and the subsequent treatment and uncertainties is extremely difficult for children and their families.

A number of families have kindly offered to share their experiences to help others understand what it’s like to live with childhood leukaemia.

Read more: Patient stories

Related Topics childhood leukaemia, acute myeloid leukaemia, leukaemia, Chronic myeloid leukaemia, leukaemia incidence, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, leukaemia causes

Childhood leukaemia

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