Population mixing and the incidence of childhood leukaemias: retrospective comparison in rural areas of New Zealand

摘要

In 1988 Kinlen hypothesised that childhood leukaemia occurs as a rare response to a common infection and that population influxes into rural areas with higher proportions of susceptible individuals favour epidemics of the infection and increases in the incidence of leukaemia. Most ecological studies of childhood leukaemia in relation to this issue have supported the hypothesis. Our study was conducted to test whether population influxes into rural areas of New Zealand were associated with increases in the incidence of childhood leukaemias.