Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
New Cases (Incidence)
- An estimated 66,360 people living in the United States (US) will be diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in 2011.
- NHL is the seventh most common cancer in males and females in the US.
- The age-adjusted incidence of NHL rose by 82.5 percent from 1975 to 2008, an average annual percentage increase of 2.4 percent.
- Age-specific incidence rates for females at ages 20 to 24 years are 1.9 per 100,000.
- Age-specific incidence rates for males at ages 20 to 24 years are 2.9 per 100,000.
- Age-specific incidence rates for females at ages 60 to 64 years are 39 per 100,000.
- Age-specific incidence rates for males at ages 60 to 64 years are 54.7 per 100,000.
Incidence by Gender
- Among the 66,360 new cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2011, the disease will affect 36,060 males and 30,300 females.
Incidence by Race and Ethnicity
- Blacks, from the mid-to-late teen years to the mid-50s, have higher incidence rates of NHL than whites.
- However, beginning at age 55 years, whites generally have considerably higher incidence rates of NHL than blacks.
- Among women, Hispanics of all races have the second highest incidence rates after whites.
- NHL is the fifth most common cancer in Hispanics, comprising approximately 4.8 percent of all types of cancer cases diagnosed in this population.
Incidence in Children
- Lymphoma (Hodgkin lymphoma, 7.1 percent, and NHL, 6.5 percent) is the third most common cancer in children and adolescents ages 0 to 19 years.
- In children younger than 20, lymphoma is most commonly diagnosed in non-Hispanic whites (2.64 per 100,000) and whites (2.44 per 100,000), followed by non-Hispanic blacks (2.43 per 100,000) and blacks (2.34 per 100,000) and Hispanics (1.96 per 100,000).
- In children and adolescents younger than 20 years, lymphoma is least commonly diagnosed among American Indian and Alaska Native children (0.69 per 100,000).
- In children and adolescents younger than 20 years, the highest incidence rates of NHL are in non-Hispanic black adolescents ages 15 to 19 years (2.22 per 100,000) and black adolescents ages 15 to 19 years (2.11 oer 100,000).
- In 2011, children and adolescents younger than 15 years will constitute 4 percent of all NHL cases expected to be diagnosed.
Incidence in Adults
- The incidence of NHL increases with age.
- About 2.4 cases of NHL per 100,000 population occur in 20- to 24-year-olds.
- By age 60 to 64 years, the rates increase more than 19 times to nearly 46.5 cases per 100,000 population.
- From ages 80 to 84 years, the rate increases more than 50-fold to 120.4 cases per 100,000 population.
Survival
- The five-year relative survival rate for NHL patients has risen from 31 percent in whites from 1960 to 1963 to 69.5 percent for all races from 2001 to 2007.
- There are approximately 502,943 people in the US living with NHL (active disease or in remission).
Survival for Children
In children and adolescents ages 0 to 19 years, the five-year relative survival for NHL is 84.7 percent. This represents a significant improvement in the rate of recovery. As recently as the mid-1970s, most children and adolescents with NHL did not survive five years after diagnosis.
Deaths
- An estimated 20,620 members of the US population are expected to die of lymphoma in 2011.
- NHL is the ninth most common cause of cancer death in males and the sixth in females in the US.
- NHL is the eighth most common cause of cancer death in Hispanic females and the seventh most common cause of cancer death in Hispanic males.
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma facts and statistics from Facts 2012.
