Background: Environment of Basrah is seriously contaminated with chemical leukomogens as a result of recent military conflicts. Many studies in the past few years have reported an increase in the incidence of leukemia in Basrah. This study was designed to study the risk and pattern of childhood leukemia in Basrah, Iraq, from 2003 to 2007.

Materials and Methods: This hospital-based cancer registry study was conducted on the hospital registry between June to December 2009. All children with leukemia, aged 1 to 14 years diagnosed from January 2003 to December 2007 in the Pediatrics’ Oncology Word, Maternity and Children Hospital in Basrah, Iraq were included in the study. The records of all confirmed childhood leukemia were retrieved and studied. The specific incidence rates were calculated. The patterns of leukemia classified by age at diagnosis, gender, morphological subtypes and geographical distribution were also determined.

Results: From January 2003 to December 2007, the total number of the cases of childhood leukemia was 159. The overall age standardized incidence rate (ASIR) at this period was 5.45/100000. No temporal increase in incidence rates of childhood leukemia during this 5 year period was observed. The highest incidence rate was observed in the North of Basrah. The most common type of leukemia in this study was acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), followed by acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) respectively. All subtypes of leukemia were more common in males. The highest percentages of ALL and CML were observed at ages between 2 to 5 years. AML occurred more commonly at age of 6 to 14 years.

Conclusion: Leukemia was the most common childhood malignancy in Basrah. Although we observed no temporal increase in the incidence rates of childhood leukemia during the 5 year period from 2003 to 2007, leukemia incidence in children in Basrah was higher in comparison with other countries. There is a need for epidemiological studies to understand the etiology of childhood leukemia in Basrah.