AQW 53193/22-27

Ms Connie Egan
Alliance Party
North Down

Tabled Date: 28/09/2026
Answered On Date: 13/10/2026
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Health to detail any reasons why leukaemia data is not disaggregated by age groupings that reflect clinical practice.

Answer:

The Northern Ireland Cancer Registry (NICR) publishes age-disaggregated leukaemia statistics using standard epidemiological age groupings to ensure consistency, comparability and statistical reliability.

Further disaggregation into narrower age bands may result in small numbers of cases, which can reduce the robustness of published statistics and increase disclosure risks. For this reason, routine publications use age groupings that balance analytical value with statistical quality requirements.

The NICR collects and analyses information on leukaemia diagnoses and survival outcomes using internationally recognised cancer classification systems. This enables data to be examined by individual leukaemia sub-types, including acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) and chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML).

The publication of statistics for specific sub-types is subject to considerations of statistical robustness and disclosure control.