The Age of Mexican Patients with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) Ph+ Is Quite Younger Than the Reported in USA and European Series.

Abstract 4291

CML accounts for approximately 15 percent of the cases of leukemia in adults. It has an annual incidence of 1 to 2 cases per 100000, with a slight male predominance. The median age at presentation is about 60 years and the incidence increases as a function of age, as reported in North American, Australian and European series. However, in our country we found a younger age at diagnosis. Herein we report our analysis of the age distribution of the patients included in the Mexican Cooperative Leukemia Group. We analyzed 356 patients with diagnosis of CML Ph+, from January 2001 to December 2008. The data analysis showed a median age at diagnosis of 37 years (range 16 to 64 years), with a male: female ratio of 1.1:1. There is a clear difference of age between Mexican patients with CML and those reported in the referred series (37 vs. 60 years) highlighting a geographical and/or ethnical pattern that may play a role as prognostic factor and response to treatment. Moreover, challenge the multistep theory of carcinogenesis in CML, inspired by the observation that cancer incidence increases as a higher order function of age, explained by an increasing somatic mutations rate with age. Further analysis and long term observation is required.