More and more children get leukemia, the doctor warns: 3 things at home are the 'culprit'

As it is close to the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Hospital No. 51 in Erqi District of Zhengzhou City is full of patients from all over the country. Five-year-old Xiao Zixin and his father are new visitors here.

The picture comes from Henan Radio and Television City Channel

After going to the hospital for blood tests, he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. For a 5-year-old boy, leukemia is beyond his cognition. He only knows that he is in pain and feels uncomfortable all over. Looking at a large box of medicines, he whispers, "There are too many medicines, and I can't take them." I don't know when my little head became bald.

What's even more chilling is that the child's mother told her son to go to Suzhou to work in early September 2019 and then left, and there was no news after that.

The child's father had no time to complain. He said that his wife might just want to relax, and he still hoped that she would come back to take care of the child quickly. He went out to make money to help the child see a doctor: "Even if the family is bankrupt, I have to show him, as long as there is a glimmer of hope."

During chemotherapy in the hospital, apart from my father, there were only a few small dinosaur toys to accompany Xiao Zixin, but Xiao Zixin was very strong. He said, I am not afraid of anything, and when I recover from illness, my mother will come back.

Here, Xiao Jiu wishes Xiao Zixin a speedy recovery, and also hopes that the child's mother can go home as soon as possible.

Children are the angels of every family and the hope of the family. The health of children affects the hearts of every parent. However, in recent years, the age of onset of some malignant tumors is getting younger and younger, especially childhood leukemia, which not only causes harm to children's bodies A great deal of harm, and a catastrophic blow to countless families. Why is the incidence of childhood leukemia increasing now? How can parents prevent it?

Leukemia is a malignant tumor of the blood system, and it is also the most common malignant tumor in children and adolescents, and its incidence rate is showing an increasing trend year by year.

According to the data released by the National Health Commission in 2018, the incidence of leukemia in children under the age of 15 in China is about 4-5/100,000; if the age is expanded to under the age of 18, there are about 15,000 new leukemia children each year, Among them, 75% belong to children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and 20% belong to refractory relapsed cases.

Currently, leukemia is the second leading cause of death among children under the age of 15 in China. As the population with the highest incidence of leukemia, children usually have the peak age of onset at the age of 0-9. The incidence of leukemia in children is getting higher and higher, which makes many parents are worried.

Childhood leukemia is related to genetics, environment, and infection. Whether it is physiological or environmental factors, almost every family will be involved more or less, so we must pay attention.

genetic factors

Because children's susceptibility genes make individuals susceptible to environmental factors, gene mutations can easily lead to leukemia, and familial leukemia accounts for about 0.7%. Monozygotic twins, if one person develops leukemia, the other person's incidence rate is 12 times higher than that of dizygotic twins.

For children with chromosomal and genetic abnormalities, the risk of leukemia is more than three times higher than that of ordinary people, especially the children of close relatives are more likely to suffer from acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Patients with congenital immunodeficiency have a higher incidence of leukemia, indicating that leukemia has a certain relationship with genetic factors.

envirnmental factor

If there are some carcinogens in the living environment, it is easy to cause DNA damage and cause leukemia, such as some chemical carcinogens, including benzene, formaldehyde, xylene, etc. These harmful substances are mainly released from building decoration materials and unqualified children's appliances and toys. If you live in a newly renovated house immediately, it is easy to induce childhood leukemia because of these carcinogens. Such cases are not uncommon.

In addition, ionizing radiation is also one of the factors that cause leukemia, such as X-rays and r-rays. Studies have also found that children who live in rooms with radon pollutants have a higher incidence than other children.

infection factor

Leukemia in children is closely related to certain viral infections. Because children's own immunity is relatively low, they are more susceptible to infection from external factors. Childhood leukemia may be a rare response of the body to an infection, according to a Scottish study.

Most children with leukemia have a sudden onset, and because the early symptoms of some children are not obvious, they are easy to be ignored and the timing of treatment is delayed. In fact, if you pay attention to your child's performance, it is not difficult to find the signal from early leukemia. The typical symptoms of childhood leukemia are mainly fever, anemia and hemorrhage.

The first is fever. Most of the first symptoms of acute leukemia are fever, usually irregular fever, sometimes low fever, sometimes high fever;

Followed by anemia, anemia is a first symptom of childhood leukemia, with the aggravation of the disease, the anemia will also increase, usually the child will appear pale, weak, poor appetite, weight loss and other adverse symptoms;

Finally, children with leukemia patients have bleeding symptoms. According to the survey, about 50% of children with leukemia patients have bleeding symptoms, and it is a systemic manifestation. The most common places are the mouth, nasal cavity and skin. In severe cases, even intracranial and internal organs will bleed. , is also an important cause of death in children with leukemia.

In addition, symptoms such as bone lesions, bone and joint pain, headache, vomiting, nausea, convulsions, and coma may also occur.

Pregnant women should pay attention to their environment during pregnancy, do not expose themselves to harmful substances, pay attention to diet and medication.

As a parent, try to avoid exposing your children to chemical and toxic substances. For example, try to choose environmentally friendly materials when decorating. It is best to move in a newly decorated house after half a year. Before moving in, you should open the windows frequently for ventilation, or you can ask professional environmental monitoring. Check in after passing the departmental inspection, and pay special attention to avoiding children from being polluted by benzene.

At the same time, keep children away from ionizing radiation, avoid exposure to too much radiation, and try to keep children from playing with mobile phones, computers, and watching TV as much as possible. In addition, be careful not to abuse drugs for children. Some drugs have toxic side effects on children's blood system. Therefore, you must follow the doctor's guidance when administering drugs to children.

Children's health cannot be ignored. If you find that children have dangerous signs of leukemia, you must go to the hospital for examination in time and treat them as early as possible.

References:

[1] "Children's Leukemia Symptoms Don't Ignore and Prevention Starts at Home". Guangzhou Daily. 2016-12-13

[2] Tang Nannan. Analysis of Risk Factors for Childhood Leukemia [J]. Digest Edition: Medicine and Health, 2016:5.

[3] Common signs of leukemia in children [J]. Health must read: Health News, 2014: 45.

[4] Lian Jie. How to prevent childhood leukemia [J]. Chinese Health Food, 2015: 56.