Descriptive Epidemiology and Prognosis of Pediatric Acute Leukemia in the Afro‐Descendant Population of the French West Indies and French Guiana

INTRODUCTION: The epidemiology of acute leukemia (AL) in children in Afro-descendant (AD) populations is poorly described, and survival is often considered worse in these populations. The aim of this study is to describe the epidemiology and prognosis of childhood AL in the AD population of the French West Indies/French Guiana (FWI/FG). METHODS: This is a multicenter, retrospective, descriptive cohort study of children aged 0-17 years old, resident of the FWI/FG and diagnosed with AL between January 2010 and December 2022. Patients were identified via the French National Childhood Cancer Registry and cross-referenced with lists from each reference center and local registry. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate 5-year overall survival (5y-OS) and event-free survival (5y-EFS). RESULTS: A total of 107 patients were included, 67% B-Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), 18% AML, and 14% T-ALL. The age standardized incidence rate for childhood AL was 32.9 (21.4-46.2) per million-year for children. The 5y-OS rate for all children was 90.9% (95% CI: 84.1-98.2), and 93.1% (95% CI: 85.8-100) for B-ALL, 91.7% (95% CI: 77.3%-100%) for T-ALL and 83.1% (95% CI: 64.1%-100%) for AML. The 5y-EFS were respectively 75.8% (95% CI: 66.3-86.5), 78.3% (95% CI: 67.6-90.8) and 83.9% (95% CI: 65.7-100) for all children, B-ALL and T-ALL. Seven patients (7%) died, mostly due to disease progression (57%). CONCLUSION: This is the largest epidemiological study reported on childhood AL in an AD population and in the Caribbean/Latin America zone. Survival rates in our AD population were similar to those described in European and North American studies and much better than in the Caribbean and Latin American zone.