Leukaemia - UK incidence statistics

This page presents incidence statistics for leukaemia broken down by sex, age and type. Trends over time and prevalence data are also presented.

The term ‘leukaemia’ covers cancers of the white blood cells and bone marrow. The ICD codes for leukaemia are ICD-10 C91-95.

There are four main types of leukaemia: acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL; ICD-10 C91.0), chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL; ICD-10 91.1), acute myeloid leukaemia (AML; ICD-10 C92.0) and chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML; ICD-10 C92.1). These types differ substantially in their cellular origin and clinical behaviour. As such it is important to recognise this when interpreting statistics on the incidence of the group ‘leukaemia’ as a whole. 

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By sex

Leukaemia represents around 2.5% of all cancers diagnosed in the UK. Overall leukaemia is more common in men than women, at a ratio of around 7:5 for males to females. Grouped together leukaemia is the tenth most common cancer in men and tenth in women. In the UK in 2008 there were 7,659 new cases of leukaemia registered (Table 1.1). 1-4

Table 1.1: Leukaemia (C91-95), Number of New Cases, Crude and European Age-Standardised (AS) Incidence Rates per 100,000 Population, UK, 2008

England Wales Scotland Northern Ireland United Kingdom
Male Cases 3,770 243 336 114 4,463
Crude Rate 14.9 16.7 13.4 13.1 14.8
AS Rate 12.5 13.2 11.4 12.2 12.4
AS Rate - 95% LCL* 12.1 11.5 10.2 9.9 12.0
AS Rate - 95% UCL* 12.9 14.8 12.6 14.4 12.8
Female Cases 2,710 156 249 81 3,196
Crude Rate 10.4 10.2 9.3 9.0 10.2
AS Rate 7.3 7.1 7.1 7.5 7.3
AS Rate - 95% LCL* 7.1 6.0 6.2 5.9 7.0
AS Rate - 95% UCL* 7.6 8.2 7.9 9.1 7.5
Persons Cases 6,480 399 585 195 7,659
Crude Rate 12.6 13.3 11.3 11.0 12.5
AS Rate 9.7 10.0 9.0 9.4 9.6
AS Rate - 95% LCL* 9.5 9.0 8.2 8.1 9.4
AS Rate - 95% UCL* 9.9 10.9 9.7 10.7 9.9

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*95% LCL and 95% UCL are the 95% lower and upper confidence limits around the AS Rate

Section updated 13/07/11

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By age

Figure 1.1 shows how incidence varies with age. The highest incidence in children is in the 0-4 age group mainly consisting ALL. Rates then decline and remain fairly stable until the 40s when they start to rise slowly to the early 50s. Leukaemia incidence then rises much more sharply and the rates reach their peak in the over 85s.

It has been estimated that the lifetime risk of developing leukaemia in 2008 is 1 in 71 for men and 1 in 105 for women in the UK. This was done using the AMP method.5

Figure 1.1: Leukaemia (C91-95), Average Number of New Cases per Year and Age-Specific Incidence Rates, UK, 2006-2008

cases_crude_leukaemia1.swf

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Section updated 13/07/11

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By type

The four main types of leukaemia make up over 80% of all leukaemia diagnoses. In 2008, there were 369 cases diagnosed of ALL in males, and 285 in females. The corresponding figures were 1,703 in males, 1,095 in females of CLL; 1,303 cases in males, 1,040 cases in females of AML; and 339 in males, 274 in females of CML.

Section updated 13/07/11

 

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Trends over time

Incidence rates for leukaemia increased slowly until the end of the 1990s in Great Britain (Figure 1.2). Part of this increase will be due to better diagnostic tools and improvements in cancer registration. However, in the last couple of years there appears to be a fall in the incidence rates.

Figure 1.2: Leukaemia (C91-95), European Age-Standardised Incidence Rates, Great Britain, 1975-2008

inc_asr_gb_leukaemia.swf

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Figure 1.3 shows a similar pattern for the incidence trend in the UK for leukaemia.

Figure 1.3: Leukaemia (C91-95), European Age-Standardised Incidence Rates, UK, 1993-2008

inc_asr_uk_leukaemia.swf

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Section updated 13/07/11

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Prevalence

Prevalence data relate to those people in the UK population who were alive on a specific date having previously been diagnosed with cancer. The latest analysis shows that on 31st December 2006, around 27,100 people were alive up to ten years after being diagnosed with leukaemia6. Table 1.2 shows the one, five and ten year prevalence by sex for leukaemia.

table showing leukaemia prevalence in the UK

Section updated 13/07/11

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References for leukaemia incidence

  1.  Office for National Statistics, Cancer Statistics registrations: Registrations of cancer diagnosed in 2008, England. (PDF 544KB) Series MB1 no.39. 2010, National Statistics: London.
  2.  Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit. Cancer Incidence in Wales. 2010
  3.  ISD Online 2010, Information and Statistics Division, NHS Scotland.
  4.   Northern Ireland Cancer Registry 2010. Cancer Incidence and Mortality
  5.  Sasieni PD, Shelton J, Ormiston-Smith N, Thomson CS, Silcocks PB  What is the lifetime risk of developing cancer?: the effect of adjusting for multiple primaries. Br J Cancer, 2011. 105(3): p. 460-5.
  6. National Cancer Intelligence Unit (NCIN) One, Five and Ten Year Cancer Prevalence (June 2010)