Patterns of Hodgkin's disease at diagnosis in young children.

A retrospective analysis of 125 consecutive cases of Hodgkin's disease, seen at a pediatric institution, was conducted and 28 patients under the age of 7 years (young children) were selected for comparison with a control population, aged 7 or more years. Male to female ratios were: young children, 4.6:1 vs. 1.2:1 for the controls. Symptoms at diagnosis were present in 20% of patients under age 7 and in 42% of the others. Limited Hodgkin's disease (stages I and IIA) was found in 57% of young children and in 33% of the controls, while advanced disease (stages IIIB and IV) was diagnosed in 12% of young children and in 38% of the others. Histologic types differed as follows: the young group--lymphocyte predominance (LP) 21%, nodular sclerosis (NS) 50%, mixed cellularity (MC) 29%, and lymphocyte depletion (LD) 5%, vs. the controls--LP 5%, NS 73%, MC 17%, and LD 5%. Hodgkin's disease in the young child differs from that in older populations and appears to have a favorable distribution of prognostic criteria.