Determination the Inducing Factors of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Children Under 15 Years Old in Fars Province in the Year 2001

Leukemia is a kind of neoplastic disorder and the cancers are considered as the most important cause of mortality in industrialized countries. The cause of leukemia is not exactly clear, but some researches have showen a significant relation between some factors and this type of cancer. In this survey we wanted to find the effective factors causing cancer in children in Fars province of Iran. Since cancer is a rare disease, the best method for the study is the case – control study. The adequate sample size was 93 cases and 186 controls. Controls were matched with cases regarding their sex, age and habitation. Data collection method was face to face interview with patient's mothers and the questionnaires were filled out by the investigator. After data collection, they were analyzed by conditional logistic regression. For data analyzing SPSS and EGRET softwares were used. According to the findings of this study, using medication during pregnancy, family history of cancer, exposure to x-ray and breast feeding had a significant relation with this type of cancer (p<). After applying multivariated analysis, two of variables including medication during pregnancy (p<0.001) and family history of cancer (p<0.01), were significant. According to the results of this study, it seems that genetic and environmental factors have an important role in etiology of this cancer and knowing these facts are important for the prevention of cancer.