Survival in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Survival of 839 chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients has been reviewed in relationto a number of patient and disease characteristics. Over-all, the relative 5-yr survival rate was 44%. Studying survival byage and sex led to the following observations: Dividing age into intervals < 50,50-59, 60-69, 70-79, and 80 yr and over,relative survival declined with increasingage; relative 5-yr survival for females washigher than that for males-50% versus 41%.This pattern of superior survival of femalesover males was noted in all but one of theage intervals. Survival was negatively associated with the presence of recordedclinical signs and symptoms, hematologicalabnormalities, and pathological bone marrow findings. Differences in survival werealso found by treatment category and interval from diagnosis to initiation of treatment. Adjustment for differences in distribution of each of these variables did notmaterially diminish the survival differencesnoted by age and sex. An unexpected pattern of survival in relation to white bloodcount level was noted. Survival increasedwith increasing white blood count at diagnosis, peaking in the interval at 25,000-49,000, and decreasing after that. Whensurvival by white blood count was adjustedfor some variables which were found to beassociated with survival, the gradient wasstill noted, though somewhat reduced.

Submitted on June 12, 1972 Revised on February 12, 1973 Accepted on February 16, 1973