Key Statistics for Acute Myeloid Leukemia
The American Cancer Society’s estimates for leukemia in the United States for 2018 are:
- About 60,300 new cases of leukemia (all kinds) and 24,370 deaths from leukemia (all kinds)
- About 19,520 new cases of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Most will be in adults.
- About 10,670 deaths from AML. Almost all will be in adults.
Acute myeloid leukemia is generally a disease of older people and is uncommon before the age of 45. The average age of a patient with AML is about 68 years.
AML is slightly more common among men than among women, but the average lifetime risk in both sexes is a little less than ½ of 1%.
Information on treatment success rates for AML in adults can be found in Treatment response rates for acute myeloid leukemia.
Visit the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Statistics Center for more key statistics.
The American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team
Our team is made up of doctors and master's-prepared nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as journalists, editors, and translators with extensive experience in medical writing.
American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2018. Atlanta, Ga: American Cancer Society; 2018.
Cancer Stat Facts: Leukemia-Acute Myeloid Leukemia, 2010-2014. National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD. https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/clyl.html. Accessed on January 5, 2018.
SEER Lifetime Risk (Percent) of Being Diagnosed with Cancer by Site and Race/Ethnicity: Both Sexes, 18 SEER Areas, 2012-2014 (Table 1.15) National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD. Accessed at https://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2014/results_merged/topic_lifetime_risk.pdf on January 5, 2018.
Last Medical Review: December 9, 2014 Last Revised: January 4, 2018
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