Survival from acute myeloid leukaemia in patients over 55 years of age in Northern Ireland: A discrete population

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.