Survival for acute myeloid leukaemia (AML)
Survival depends on many factors. No one can tell you exactly how long you will live.
Below are general statistics based on large groups of people. Remember, they can’t tell you what will happen in your individual case.
About these statistics
The terms 1 year survival, 3 year survival and 5 year survival don’t mean that you will only live for 1, 3 or 5 years.
Statisticians and researchers collect information. They watch what happens to people with cancer in the years after their diagnosis. 5 years is a common time point to measure survival. But some people live much longer than this.
5 year survival is the number of people who have not died from their cancer within 5 years after diagnosis.
Survival statistics for acute myeloid leukaemia (AML)
No UK-wide statistics are available for AML survival. Statistics are available for people diagnosed with AML in one area of England between 2010 and 2019.
Generally for all people with AML:
- more than 15 out of 100 people (more than 15%) will survive their leukaemia for 5 years or more after being diagnosed
This is for all ages. Younger people tend to do better than older people.
For those younger than 40:
- almost 60 out of 100 (almost 60%) will survive their leukaemia for 5 years or more after diagnosis
For those aged between 40 and 49:
- almost 55 out of 100 (almost 55%) will survive their leukaemia for 5 years or more after diagnosis
For those aged between 50 and 59:
- around 35 out of 100 (around 35%) will survive their leukaemia for 5 years or more after diagnosis
For those aged between 60 and 69:
- more than 15 out of 100 (more than 15%) will survive their leukaemia for 5 years or more after diagnosis
For those aged between 70 and 79:
- around 5 out of 100 (around 5%) will survive their leukaemia for 5 years or more after diagnosis
For those aged 80 and over:
- only 1 out of 100 (only 1%) will survive their leukaemia for 5 years or more after diagnosis
Haematological Malignancy Research Network (HMRN)
Accessed September 2023
The HMRN statistics are for net survival. Net survival estimates the number of people who survive their cancer rather than calculating the number of people diagnosed with cancer who are still alive. In other words, it is the survival of cancer patients after taking into account that some people would have died from other causes if they had not had cancer.
Doctors use the International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, third edition (ICD-O-3) to categorise tumours. They use it to code the site of the tumour (where it is in the body) and the sub type (what the cells look like under the microscope – histology or morphology). These survival statistics are for AML with the following ICD-O-3 codes:
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9861/3, 9865/3, 9866/3, 9869/3, 9871/3, 9877/3, 9878/3, 9879/3, 9895/3, 9896/3, 9897/3, 9920/3
What affects outlook
Several factors can affect your outlook (prognosis). These are called prognostic factors. Here is a list of some of the factors affecting survival:
Age
Your age affects outlook. Younger people have a better prognosis.
Changes in genes
Outlook is affected by changes in your 
. These are called .
Some specific genetic abnormalities in your leukaemia cells may make your leukaemia harder to treat successfully.
How advanced the AML is
Survival is also affected by how advanced the leukaemia is at diagnosis. If you have a high number of white blood cells in the blood at diagnosis, the outlook is poorer.
Changing from chronic to acute
The outcome depends on whether you had leukaemia that changed (transformed) from a chronic form into an acute form. It can be more difficult to treat leukaemia that has transformed, or if it has developed from a blood condition called myelodysplasia.
Secondary leukaemia
It may also be harder to treat a leukaemia that has developed after treatment for another cancer. This is called a secondary leukaemia. It means that you developed leukaemia after earlier chemotherapy damaged your bone marrow cells. This is rare, but it can happen. Secondary leukaemia usually develops within 10 years of treatment for the first cancer.
How well leukaemia responds to treatment
Your outlook is affected by how well the leukaemia responds to treatment and how long it takes to get a remission. Remission means the leukaemia is not active and doctors cannot find any sign of it. If it takes a long time to get your leukaemia into remission, your leukaemia may be more difficult to treat successfully.
If AML comes back after treatment
If AML comes back after initial treatment it is called relapsed leukaemia. With relapsed AML, it is sometimes possible to get rid of all signs of the leukaemia again (a second remission) with more chemotherapy.
More statistics
For more in-depth information about survival and AML cancer, go to our Cancer Statistics section.
