A suspect cluster of childhood cancer in Valle di Ledro (Province of Trento, Northern Italy). Epidemiological evaluation, risk management, and communication activities, 2018-2020

BACKGROUND: leukaemia is the most prevalent form of childhood cancer, an overall rare condition in childhood. Even few cases occurring in a small community can cause considerable apprehension among the population. From 2014 to 2017, 4 cases of childhood cancer occurred in Valle di Ledro, a municipality of 5,300 inhabitants in Province of Trento (Northern Italy), and a group of concerned citizens asked provincial health authorities for an investigation.OBJECTIVES: to address the community's health needs by verifying the hypothesis of a cluster of childhood cancer and through effective risk communication activities.DESIGN: retrospective cohort analysis based on data from the Cancer registry of the Autonomous Province of Trento and data collected from hospital discharge records. The communication activities were carried out according to the recommendations published by Epidemiologia&Prevenzione in 2016 in a Supplement "Childhood cancers, risk factors and investigation models for the evalu...