Poor children less likely to survive leukaemia

A study by scientists from York University found cases in more deprived households were 30 per cent more likely to be fatal.

Experts suggest a failure to maintain complex treatment regimes may be to blame.

The findings have led to calls today by the charity Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research for more support for families caring for a child with leukaemia.

More than 90 per cent of 450 children diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia each year in the UK now survive. But treatment, including daily drug therapies at home to prevent relapses, lasts up to three years.

David Grant, scientific director of the charity which funded the research, said: “Managing the precise regimen of drugs in the home is stressful for any family caring for a child with leukaemia, especially as the child already appears to be completely cured. We need to do more work to find out what support parents or carers need during the two to three years after their child leaves hospital.”

Tracy Lightfoot, of the department of health sciences at York, who led the research, said: “The findings from this study provide the first clear evidence in the UK that social disparities exist in relation to childhood leukaemia survival.”

The study has already demonstrated that between social groups there are no differences in the likelihood of a child developing leukaemia in the first place.