Statistics

Who is most affected by leukemia? Where do you stand among those people? How long do you expect to live? Here we will provide some general statistics about who leukemia is affecting, to give some context to your situation. Hopefully you will find this information helpful, but it is also important not to expect yourself to fit into this statistics. Each person's body is different, and will react to medicine and stress differently. At the same time, there are different treatment options available. Remember that you might do much better than the statistics. It is also possible that you might do much worse. At the end of the day, you don't really know, so take a look at the numbers and then hope for the best. 

Here are some overall statistics for leukemia, including Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia, and Acute Myeloid Leukemia:

SEER Stat Fact Sheets: Leukemia. 2015. Retrieved April 4, 2015 from http://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/leuks.html

Both rates of diagnosis and death have remained steady over the last decade. While we may wish for more improvement in both rates, we can still consider it promising that neither rate has increased. The five-year-survival rate is only slightly lower than the 5-year-survival rate for all cancer sites (66%). 

Leukemia is more common in people later in life, although it is also known as a childhood cancer. Here is a look a the distribution of age of diagnosis. Approximately half of the people diagnosed with leukemia will be under the age of 66, and approximately half will be over the age of 66. 

SEER Stat Fact Sheets: Leukemia. 2015. Retrieved April 4, 2015 from http://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/leuks.html

Australia, the USA, Italy, and Ireland have the highest rates of CLL, with white males over age 65 being the most afflicted. It is unknown why these locations and demographics carry the most disease burden. Currently there are no major identifiable risk factors. 

References:
Redaelli, A., Laskin, BL., Stephens, JM., Botteman, MF., and Pashos, CL. (2004). The clinical and epidemiological burden of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. European Journal of Cancer Care, 13(3), 279-87. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15196232