The burden of childhood and adolescent cancers in North Africa and the Middle East (NAME) region: findings from the Global Burden of Disease study 2019.

INTRODUCTION: Despite the significant burden of childhood and adolescent cancers, no specific studies recently discussed the burden of cancer in this group in the North Africa and the Middle East (NAME) region. Therefore, we aimed to study the burden of cancers in this group in this region. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrieved the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) data for children and adolescent cancers (0-19 years old) in the NAME region from 1990 to 2019. 21 types of neoplasms were grouped as "neoplasms", comprising 19 specific cancer groups as well as "other malignant neoplasms" and "other neoplasms". Three significant parameters of incidence, deaths, and Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) were studied. The data are presented with 95% uncertainty intervals (UI), and reported rates per 100,000. RESULTS: In 2019, almost 6 million (95% UI: 4.166 M-8.405 M) new cases and 11,560(9770-13,578) deaths due to neoplasms occurred in the NAME region. Incidence was higher in females (3.4 M), while deaths (6226 of overall 11,560) and DALYs (501,118 of overall 933,885) were estimated as higher in males. Incidence rates did not significantly change since 1990, while deaths and DALYs rates declined significantly. After excluding "other malignant neoplasms" and "other neoplasms", leukemia was responsible for the highest number of incidence and deaths (incidence: 10,629(8237-13,081), deaths: 4053(3135-5013), followed by brain and central nervous system cancers (incidence: 5897(4192-7134), deaths: 2446(1761-2960)), and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (incidence: 2741 (2237-3392), deaths: 790(645-962)). Incidence rates of neoplasms were similar for most countries, but countries varied more in terms of death rates. Afghanistan 8.9(6.5-11.9), Sudan 6.4(4.5-8.6), and the Syrian Arab Republic 5.6(4.3-8.3) had the highest overall death rates. CONCLUSION: The NAME region is observing relatively constant incidence rates and a decreasing pattern in the deaths and DALYs. Despite this success, several countries are lagging behind in development. Different issues such as economic problems, armed conflicts and political instabilities, lack of equipment or experienced staff or poor distribution, stigmatization and disbelief in the healthcare systems account for unfavorable numbers in some countries. Such problems require urgent solutions as new sophisticated and personalized cares raise the alarm for even more inequalities between high and low-income countries.

Regional and national burden of leukemia and its attributable burden to risk factors in 21 countries and territories of North Africa and Middle East, 1990-2019: results from the GBD study 2019.

PURPOSE: Regional and national data on leukemia's burden provide a better comprehension of leukemia's trends and are vital for policy-makers for better allocation of the resources. This study reports the burden of leukemia, and the attributed burden to its risk factors in 21 countries and territories of the North Africa and Middle East. METHODS: Data from cancer registration, scientific literature, survey, and reports were the input to estimate the burden of leukemia. In addition, the burden of attributable risk factors with evidence of causation with leukemia was calculated using the comparative risk assessment framework. All measures are reported as counts and rates divided by sex and specific age groups. RESULTS: In 2019, there were 39,297 (95% uncertainty interval: 32,617-45,056) incident cases of leukemia with an age-standardized rate (ASR) of 7.8 (6.5-8.8) per 100,000 in the region. There were also 25,143 (21,109-28,826) deaths and 1,011,555 (822,537-1,173,621) DALYs attributed to Leukemia with an ASR of 5.4 (4.6-6.1) per 100,000 and 183.4 (150.7-211.2) per 100,000, respectively. Years of life lost (YLLs) (179.4 [147.2-206.7]) were accountable for the major part of DALYs. All count measures increased, while all the ASRs decreased during 1990-2019. The Syrian Arab Republic, Qatar, and Afghanistan had the highest ASR incidence, mortality, and DALYs rate in 2019. Incidence, DALYs, and prevalence rates were higher in males of all age groups except under five, and the highest rates were observed in +75 age group. Four major risk factors for leukemia were smoking, high body mass index, occupational exposure to benzene, and formaldehyde. CONCLUSION: Despite the reduction in age-standardized rates of incidence and mortality, the burden of leukemia has increased steadily, due to population growth and aging. Notable variations exist between age-standardized rates in region's countries.

The Clinical and Molecular Assessment of Iranian Families with Severe Congenital Neutropenia, Identification of HYOU1 and SHOC2 as Potential Novel Gene Defects.

Neutropenia congenita grave (SCN) is a rare disease with a genetically and clinically heterogeneous nature, usually diagnosed in childhood, with an elevated risk of infections such as otitis, skin infections, pneumonia, deep abscesses, and septicemia. Patients with SCN also have an increased risk of leukemia, and mutations in the ELANE and the HAX1 genes have been observed in those patients. This study was conducted to genetically screen six Iranian families with SCN who have at least one affected person. In the first step, all exons and intron boundaries of ELANE and HAX1 genes were sequenced in probands. Cases with no pathogenic mutations were tested through whole-exome sequencing (WES). Analysis showed five different variants in ELANE (c.377 C>T), HAX1 (c.130_131 insA), HYOU1 (c.69 G>C and c.2744 G>A) and SHOC2 (c.4 A>G) genes in four families. We found that two out of six families had mutations in ELANE and HAX1 genes. Moreover, we found two novel mutations at the HYOU1 gene that had not previously been reported, as well as a pathogenic mutation at SHOC2 with multiple phenotypes, that will contribute to determining the genetic basis for SCN. Our study revealed that WES could help diagnose SCN, improve the classification of neutropenia, and rule out other immunodeficiencies such as autoimmune neutropenia, primary immunodeficiency diseases, and inherited bone marrow failure syndromes.

Targeting Hypertension Screening in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of 1.2 Million Adults in 56 Countries.

Background As screening programs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) often do not have the resources to screen the entire population, there is frequently a need to target such efforts to easily identifiable priority groups. This study aimed to determine (1) how hypertension prevalence in LMICs varies by age, sex, body mass index, and smoking status, and (2) the ability of different combinations of these variables to accurately predict hypertension. Methods and Results We analyzed individual-level, nationally representative data from 1 170 629 participants in 56 LMICs, of whom 220 636 (18.8%) had hypertension. Hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure ≥140 mm Hg, diastolic blood pressure ≥90 mm Hg, or reporting to be taking blood pressure-lowering medication. The shape of the positive association of hypertension with age and body mass index varied across world regions. We used logistic regression and random forest models to compute the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve in each country for different combinations of age, body mass index, sex, and smoking status. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the model with all 4 predictors ranged from 0.64 to 0.85 between countries, with a country-level mean of 0.76 across LMICs globally. The mean absolute increase in the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve from the model including only age to the model including all 4 predictors was 0.05. Conclusions Adding body mass index, sex, and smoking status to age led to only a minor increase in the ability to distinguish between adults with and without hypertension compared with using age alone. Hypertension screening programs in LMICs could use age as the primary variable to target their efforts.