Why was a study of Hodgkin’s disease conducted in Methuen?
In 1995 a Methuen resident contacted local health officials in Methuen with concerns about a possibly unusual number of former students or graduates of Methuen High School who had been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease. The Methuen Board of Health then contacted the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Environmental Health Assessment (MDPH/BEHA), for assistance in evaluating these concerns. 2. What was done by the MDPH/BEHA in response to the initial concerns about Hodgkin’s disease? MDPH/BEHA initially evaluated the latest available data at the time from the Massachusetts Cancer Registry (MCR) for Hodgkin’s disease among all Methuen residents. That review revealed that the town overall was not experiencing an unusual incidence of Hodgkin’s disease during the period 1982-1990, the most recent period available for review at the time. However since a number of Methuen High School graduates had moved from the town, questions still remained. For that reason MDPH recommended
