Blood, 1960, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp. 332-349.
© 1960 American Society of Hematology, Inc.
Variation in the Duration of Survival of Patients
with the Chronic Leukemias
MANNING FEINLEIB 1 and
BRIAN MACMAHON 1
1 Department of Environmental Medicine and Community Health, State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Data on 649 white residents of Brooklyn first diagnosed as having chronic
leukemia during the period 1943 to 1952 were obtained from hospital records.
Diagnosis was based on marrow biopsy or autopsy in 65 per cent. Follow-up
to January 1, 1958 was complete for 90.0 per cent (584) of the patients. The
life table method and the method of maximum likelihood applied to the three
parameter log-normal distribution were used to analyze survival trends of
these patients.
The median duration of survival after diagnosis for the total sample was
11.65 months. Sixteen per cent of the patients survived longer than 43 months
after diagnosis, and 9 per cent survived for five years. The mean duration
of symptoms prior to diagnosis was 5.1 months.
Median durations were somewhat longer for females than for males and
for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia than for those with chronic
myelocytic leukemia. However, neither of these differences was statistically
significant.
The duration of survival after diagnosis was significantly shorter for males
and females with chronic myelocytic leukemia who were over 60 years of age
than for any other age or diagnosis group. For patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, duration of survival was independent of age.
Duration of survival after diagnosis was independent of the duration of
symptoms prior to diagnosis. The median duration of survival for a group of
patients in whom the diagnosis was made during examination for symptoms
referable to some other condition was similar to that of those presenting with
symptoms clearly referable to leukemia.
Two groups by religion and ABO blood type showed significantly longer
median durations of survival after diagnosis than comparable groups. Jewish
women with chronic lymphocytic leukemia showed a median duration of
survival of 21.1 months compared with 6.4 months for the non-Jewish women.
Women with chronic myelocytic leukemia of type B or AB blood had median
survivals after diagnosis of about 24 months, compared with about 10 months
for the same groups with type A or O blood.
Submitted on May 7, 1959
Accepted on July 23, 1959
