Childhood Leukemia Concerns in Highland County
/In 2016, a Highland County family contacted the Highland County Health Department to share a concern about childhood leukemia rates being too high in our community. There is nothing that our community or that the health department takes more seriously than our children’s health, so when we learned of this concern, the Health Commissioner and the family sat down to discuss things. The health department agreed to investigate childhood leukemia rates in Highland County to determine if rates of appeared to have increased higher than the expected rates for the community.
Over the following 6 months, the health department worked with local physicians, state cancer surveillance officials, and regional epidemiologists from Hamilton County to review the number of childhood leukemia cases in Highland County. No childhood cancer cases are acceptable, but unfortunately some cases of childhood cancer do continue to occur across Ohio. In almost every case of childhood leukemia in the nation, health officials and doctors are unable to identify why the cancers occurred. We all want answers for why these diseases effect children, but in most cases, no answers are available. That is part of what makes these investigations so difficult.
Below are the actual case counts from Highland County since Ohio began tracking cancer cases in 1996.
Childhood Leukemia Cases from 1996 to 2019
1996 - 2 cases
1997 - 0 cases
1998 - 0 cases
1999 - 1 case
2000 - 0 cases
2001 - 0 cases
2002 - 0 cases
2003 - 1 case
2004 - 1 case
2005 - 1 case
2006 - 1 case
2007 - 2 cases
2008 - 0 cases
2009 - 1 case
2010 - 0 cases
2011 - 0 cases
2012 - 0 cases
2013 - 0 cases
2014 - 2 cases
2015 - 1 case
2016 - 2 cases
2017 - 1 case
2018 - 1 case (pending ODH confirmation)
2019 - 1 case (pending ODH confirmation)
This investigation showed that cancer cases in Highland County are not higher than expected for our community. Some variation is expected in cancer counts, and with numbers this small, we must be cautious in identifying trends in disease rates based on minor changes. The health department continues to maintain childhood leukemia cancer surveillance as part of regular disease surveillance efforts. The Ohio Department of Health also maintains cancer surveillance efforts for Highland County and the rest of Ohio.
No amount of childhood cancer is acceptable, but unfortunately it does occur, and health professionals very rarely determine why. We will continue to monitor this community concern regarding childhood cancer.
If you are interested in learning more about cancer clusters and surveillance, please review the following links.
Additional Resources
1. American Cancer Society (ACS): http://www.cancer.org/treatment/supportprogramsservices/app/resource-search
2. National Cancer Institute (NCI) - NCI Cancer Clusters: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/clusters
3. CDC National Program of Cancer Registries: http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/npcr/
4. CDC National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Health Hazard Evaluation Program: www.cdc.gov/niosh/hhe/HHEprogram.html
5. CDC Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry – Chemicals, Cancer and You: www.atsdr.cdc.gov/emes/public/docs/Chemicals,%20Cancer,%20and%20You%20FS.pdf
6. Ohio Department of Health: www.odh.ohio.gov
7. Ohio Cancer Incidence Surveillance System: http://www.healthy.ohio.gov/cancer/ocisshs/ci_surv1.aspx
8. United States Environmental Protection Agency Toxic Release Inventory: http://www.epa.gov/tri/