Clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia after induction of chemotherapy: a pilot descriptive correlational study from Palestine

Table 1 Sociodemographic, clinical, and hematological variables of the patients with pediatric ALL included in the study (n = 69)

Variable	n	%
Age (years)
< 10	26	37.7
≥ 10	43	62.3
Gender
Male	42	60.9
Female	27	39.1
Presence of abdominal pain
Yes	22	31.9
No	47	68.1
Presence of fever
Yes	37	53.6
No	32	46.4
Presence of bone pain
Yes	30	43.5
No	39	56.5
CNS status^a
CNS 1	66	95.7
CNS 2	1	1.4
CNS 3	2	2.9
Presence of pallor
Yes	50	72.5
No	19	27.5
Presence of anorexia
Yes	9	13
No	60	87
Presence of hepatomegaly^b
Yes	34	49.3
No	35	50.7
Presence of splenomegaly^c
Yes	34	49.3
No	35	50.7
Presence of bleeding^d
Yes	15	21.7
No	54	78.3
Immunophenotype
B-ALL	55	79.7
T-ALL	14	20.3
Cytogenetics for B-ALL
t(12, 21)	10	18.2
Hyperdiploidy	5	9.1
t(1, 19)	4	7.3
t(9, 22)	2	3.6
Nil	19	34.5
Missing	15	27.3
Relapse^e
Yes	5	7.2
No	64	92.8
Remission^f
Yes	68	98.5
No	1	1.5
Hematological laboratory data at admission	Median	IQR
Hemoglobin (g/dL)	9.0	2.7
Platelet count (per mm³)	80000	157000
Initial WBCs count (cells/mm³)	7100	20600
Absolute neutrophils count (cells/mm³)	1420	2030

IQR interquartile range, WBCs white blood cells
^aCNS1: WBC in CSF < 5 without WBC blasts, CNS2: WBC in CSF < 5 with WBC blasts, CNS3: WBC in CSF > 5 with WBC blasts
^bHepatomegaly: palpable liver below the costal margin
^cSplenomegaly: palpable spleen
^dPresence of bleeding symptoms like petechiae, epistaxis, bruising, gum bleeding, blood in stool
^eRelapse: patient was in remission and developing any of the following: 1. More than 20% of blasts in bone marrow, or, 2. CNS status 2 or 3, or, 3. Both 1 + 2
^fRemission: the percentage of blast cells in the bone marrow is less than 5% at the end of induction of chemotherapy

ISSN: 1756-0500