title: Survival from Acute MyeloidLeukaemia in Patients Over 55 Years of Age in Northern Ireland: A Discrete Population.
abstract: Acute myeloid leukaemia is a disease of increasing frequency in the elderly. The aim of this study was to describe the survival and the factors influencing survival in a cohort older than 55 years in Northern Ireland, which has a relatively stable population. The median survival of the 92 cases identified in a 6-year period was 18 weeks with an actuarial survival overall at one year of 24%. Independent risk factors for survival were administration of chemotherapy with the intention to induce remission, social class 1 and 2, hepatomegaly, absence of splenomegaly, lower LDH, lower PB blast count, higher haemoglobin, female sex and WHO performance status 0-2. The results of this study suggest that survival from acute leukaemia in the elderly is very poor when an unselected patient cohort is considered.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Haematology , The Queen's University of Belfast, The Institute of Clinical Science, Royal Victoria Hospital , Grosvenor Road, Belfast BT12 6BA , N. Ireland , UK.
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: McMullin
authors.affiliation: b Centre for Medical Statistics , Keele University , Keele , Staffordshire ST5 5BG , UK.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: MacKenzie
keywords: Acute leukaemia; Elderly; Myeloid; Response