OBJECTIVE: To analyze the spatial distribution of mortality by leukemia in the population, looking for clusters, and to establish an association with the level of industrialization. METHOD: The study was carried out in 43 state regions of the state of São Paulo, Brazil, in the period between 1991 and 1995. It was created an Index of Industrialization-Related Leukemia (IIRL) based on number of manufactures and industrial jobs per 100,000 inhabitants, fiscal aggregated value, diversity of industry activities and presence of manufactures that poses potential risk exposure for leukemia. IIRL was classified in five categories. Standardized leukemia mortality rates were established for each region, classified in five categories, plotted in five different colors and compared to the IIRL map. RESULTS: The most industrialized regions in the state of São Paulo are Campinas, Piracicaba, Jundiaí, Sorocaba and São Paulo. There was no relationship between mortality by any leukemia type and industrialization. The region of Jales showed the highest standardized mortality rates by leukemia. CONCLUSIONS: Mortality by leukemia had a homogeneous distribution in the state of São Paulo and no association with the level of industrialization. However, aspects related to the epidemiological method applied - ecological study, mortality by leukemia as a parameter to study a disease which prognosis has changed in the last decades - limit the results interpretation.
Leukemia; Industry; Medical topography; Spatial distribution; Epidemiological surveys; Ecological studies; Clusters
