Ethnic-specific Clinical Features in Children with Non-M3 Acute Myeloid Leukaemia from Yunnan Province

Abstract

BackgroundChildhood acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is a higly heterogenous disorder. But its clinical characteristics according to ethic groups have been rarely studied.ObjectiveTo explore ethnic-specific clinical characteristics and prognosis of paediatric patients with non-M3 AML from Yunnan province.MethodsPaediatric patients with newly diagnosed non-M3 AML were rectuited from Kunming Children's Hospital between January 1, 2015 and March 1, 2020. Basic baseline clinical data, including demographic characteristics (ethnic group, gender, age) , general information (white blood cell count, haemoglobin, platelet count, lactate dehydrogenase, bone marrow blast cell, FAB classification) , karyotype, and genetic information were collected. All patients were followed up from enrolment to 2020-05-31, and treatment protocols, risk stratifications, and prognoses were collected.ResultsSeventy-two cases〔51 cases of Han, 21 cases of minorities (5 Yi, 4 Hui, 3 Hani, 2 Bai, 2 Miao, 1 Zhuang, 1 Wa, 1 Buyi, 1 Mongolian and 1 Dai) 〕 were enrolled, with a follow-up of 2-60 months. Children of ethnic minorities had higher mean white blood cell count did those of Han (P<0.05) . Follow-up analysis showed that compared with children of Han, children of ethnic minorities had higher risk and moratlity (P<0.05) , but domonstrated simailar complete remission rate, recurrence rate and bone marrow transplantation rate after the first course of induction therapy (P>0.05) . Event-free survival rate and overall survival rate of children of Han were higher than those of children of ethnic minorities (χ2=8.098, P=0.004; χ2=12.547, P<0.001) .ConclusionNon-M3 AML children of Han had lower risk and better prognosis than those of ethnic minorities in Yunnan, but the reason has not been identified.

Keywords

• |leukemia, myeloid, acute|leukemia|child|ethnic groups|han nationality|minority groups|prognosis