title: Trends in survival of chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients in Germany and the USA in the first decade of the twenty-first century.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recent population-based studies in the United States of America (USA) and other countries have shown improvements in survival for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) diagnosed in the early twenty-first century. Here, we examine the survival for patients diagnosed with CLL in Germany in 1997-2011.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were extracted from 12 cancer registries in Germany and compared to the data from the USA. Period analysis was used to estimate 5- and 10-year relative survival (RS).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five- and 10-year RS estimates in 2009-2011 of 80.2 and 59.5%, respectively, in Germany and 82.4 and 64.7%, respectively, in the USA were observed. Overall, 5-year RS increased significantly in Germany and the difference compared to the survival in the USA which slightly decreased between 2003-2005 and 2009-2011. However, age-specific analyses showed persistently higher survival for all ages except for 15-44 in the USA. In general, survival decreased with age, but the age-related disparity was small for patients younger than 75. In both countries, 5-year RS was >80% for patients less than 75 years of age but <70% for those age 75+.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overall, 5-year survival for patients with CLL is good, but 10-year survival is significantly lower, and survival was much lower for those age 75+. Major differences in survival between countries were not observed. Further research into ways to increase survival for older CLL patients are needed to reduce the persistent large age-related survival disparity.
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Epidemiology and Aging Research, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Im Neuenheimer Feld 581, 69121, Heidelberg, Germany. pultedi@gmail.com.|Cardeza Foundation and Division of Hematology, Department of Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA. pultedi@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Dianne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pulte
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Epidemiology and Aging Research, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Im Neuenheimer Feld 581, 69121, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Felipe A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Castro
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Epidemiology and Aging Research, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Im Neuenheimer Feld 581, 69121, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Lina
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jansen
authors.affiliation: Bremen Cancer Registry, Leibniz-Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology-BIPS, Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Luttmann
authors.affiliation: Saarland Cancer Registry, Saarbrücken, Germany.
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Holleczek
authors.affiliation: Hamburg Cancer Registry, Authority for Health and Consumer Protection, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nennecke
authors.affiliation: Cancer Registry of Rhineland-Palatinate, Institute for Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Meike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ressing
authors.affiliation: Cancer Registry of Schleswig-Holstein, Lübeck, Germany.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Katalinic
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Epidemiology and Aging Research, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Im Neuenheimer Feld 581, 69121, Heidelberg, Germany.|Division of Preventative Oncology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany.|German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Hermann
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Brenner
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015451:Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D011379:Prognosis; D012042:Registries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018426:SEER Program / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult