RESUMO
Twenty-nine cases of acute promyelocytic leukaemia of children and adults are reported. This figure represents 13.61% of all the acute leukaemias and 27.88% of the acute non-lymphoblastic leukaemias found in Zulia State between 1982 and 1987. Those findings mean a higher frequency than reported in other childhood as well as adult series. So, Zulia State appears as an important geographic area for the occurrence of this type of leukaemia.
Assuntos
Leucemia Promielocítica Aguda/epidemiologia , Criança , Pré-Escolar , Análise por Conglomerados , Estudos de Coortes , Estudos Transversais , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Venezuela/epidemiologiaRESUMO
To determine the characteristics of blood donors in western Venezuela, we collected data from 1983 to 1985 on 31,320 volunteer donors at the Blood Bank of the State of Zulia in Maracaibo. Fifty-nine percent of the donors were blood group O, 30 percent were group A, 9 percent were group B, and 2 percent were group AB. Most of the donors (93%) were Rh positive. One percent of donors had positive reactions to hepatitis B surface antigen, 3.15 percent for syphilis, 1.43 percent for antibodies to Trypanosoma cruzi, and 0.32 percent to human immunodeficiency virus antibodies. About one-half of the donors were between 18 and 30 years old, and only 10 percent were women. To determine if iron deficiency anemia was a cause for the small size of the female donor pool, we measured serum ferritin in 50 first-time female donors. Ten of these (20%) had serum ferritin values below normal, and the distribution of serum ferritin levels of all 50 was very similar to that reported for frequent donors in Europe and the United States, with a clustering of ferritin values between 10 and 70 ng per ml. The data indicate that blood donors in western Venezuela are markedly different from those in the United States and that iron supplementation may be indicated for female Venezuelan donors.