Seasonal Diagnosis of Hodgkin's Disease Among Young Adults 1,2

ABSTRACT-Among 3,707 incident cases of Hodgkin's disease analyzed by month of initially confirmed diagnosis, there was no evidence of seasonal variation for boys or girls «15 yr old) or for older persons (2':40 yr old). However, for young adults (15-39 yr old) there was significant fluctuation of month of diagnosis. February was the month of peak diagnosis both among young men (P=.002) and among young women, although not significant at conventional levels (P =.30). This seasonal variation is consistent with the hypothesis that Hodgkin's disease in young adults is the rare manifestation of a prevalent infection with low pathogenicity.-JNCI 1985; 74:53-56. Speculation about the possible infectious nature of Hodgkin's disease began immediately after its original description in 1832, when Thomas Hodgkin (1) described 7 patients having "morbid appearances of the absorben