Ongoing improvement in long-term survival of patients with Hodgkin disease at all ages and recent catch-up of older patients.
Since the breakthroughs in combination chemotherapy of patients with Hodgkin disease (HD) starting in the 1960s, prognosis of patients has been rising steadily. Trends in long-term survival of patients with HD on the population level should therefore be monitored in an as timely as possible manner. We assessed trends in age specific 5- and 10-year relative survival of patients with HD in the United States from 1980-1984 to 2000-2004 from the 1973-2004 database of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program. Period analysis was used to disclose recent developments with minimum delay. Overall, 5-year relative survival steadily increased from 73.5% to 85.2% (+11.7 percentage units), and 10-year relative survival increased from 62.1% to 80.1% (+18.0 percentage units) between 1980-1984 and 2000-2004, according to period analysis. The increase was particularly pronounced for patients aged 45 to 59 years and 60 years and older (increases in 10-year relative survival by 24.8 and 23.3 percentage points, respectively). Nevertheless, a strong age gradient persisted, with 10-year relative survival of 92.7%, 88.7%, 84.9%, 76.2%, and 44.9% in patients aged 15 to 24 years, 25 to 34 years, 35 to 44 years, 45 to 54 years, and 60 years and older, respectively, in 2000-2004. Our period analysis discloses ongoing, major improvement in long-term survival of patients with HD in recent years, particularly among older patients.
Brenner
Hermann
H
Division of Clinical Epidemiology & Aging Research, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany. h.brenner@dkfz-heidelberg.de
Gondos
Adam
A
Pulte
Dianne
D
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D015996:Survival Rate; D013997:Time Factors