Background The aim of the study was to independently test the hypothesis that leukaemia incidence is higher in proximity to estuaries.Methods Electoral wards were classified as to whether they included estuarine, coastal or only inland features. Rates of different adult and childhood leukaemias were computed for each ward category; that is, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) aged 0-79 and for all childhood leukaemias combined (aged 0-14).Results Poisson regression analysis controlling for the effects of sex, age, and socioeconomic and urban-rural status, showed no statistically significant differences in incidence between wards with different levels of estuarine classification.Conclusion The hypothesis created from an earlier dataset that a link exists between leukaemia and residence near estuaries is not upheld.