Survival Rates for Hodgkin Lymphoma

Survival rates are a way to measure how many people survive a certain type of cancer over time. They can’t tell you what will happen with any one person, but they may help you better understand how likely it is that your treatment will be successful.

Keep in mind that survival rates are estimates. They can’t predict what will happen in any person’s case. These statistics can be confusing. Ask your cancer care team how these numbers apply to you.

What is a 5-year relative survival rate?

A relative survival rate compares people with the same stage of a certain cancer to people in the overall population.

For example, if the 5-year survival rate for a specific stage of Hodgkin lymphoma is 80%, it means that on average, people who have that cancer are about 80% as likely as people who don't have that cancer to live 5 years after being diagnosed.

Of course, many people live much longer than 5 years and many are cured.

Where do these numbers come from?

The American Cancer Society relies on information from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database, maintained by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), to provide survival statistics for different types of cancer.

The SEER database tracks 5-year relative survival rates for Hodgkin lymphoma in the United States, based on how far the cancer has spread. However, the SEER database doesn’t group cancers by the Lugano classification (stage 1, stage 2, stage 3, etc.). Instead, it groups cancers into localized, regional, and distant stages:

• Localized: The cancer is limited to one lymph node area, one lymphoid organ, or one organ outside the lymph system.
• Regional: The cancer reaches from one lymph node area to a nearby organ, is found in two or more lymph node areas on the same side of (above or below) the diaphragm, or is considered bulky disease.
• Distant: The cancer has spread to distant parts of the body, such as the lungs, liver, or bone marrow, or to lymph node areas above and below the diaphragm.

5-year relative survival rates for Hodgkin lymphoma

These numbers are based on people diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma between 2015 and 2021.

SEER Stage	5-Year Relative Survival Rate
Localized	93%
Regional	95%
Distant	84%
All SEER stages combined	89%

 

Understanding the numbers

These numbers apply only to the stage of the cancer when it is first diagnosed. They don’t apply later if the cancer grows, spreads, or comes back after treatment.

These numbers don’t take everything into account. Survival rates for Hodgkin lymphoma are grouped based on how far the cancer has spread. But your outlook can be affected by your age, your overall health, how well your lymphoma responds to treatment, and other prognostic factors (described below).

Treatments have improved over time. People now being diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma may have a better outlook than these numbers show. These numbers are based on people who were diagnosed and treated at least 5 years earlier.

Other prognostic factors

Along with the stage of the Hodgkin lymphoma, other factors can affect your prognosis (outlook). Having some of the following factors means the lymphoma is likely to be more serious:

• Having B symptoms or bulky disease
• Being older than 45
• Being male
• High white blood cell count (above 15,000)
• Low red blood cell count (hemoglobin level below 10.5)
• Low blood lymphocyte count (below 600)
• Low blood albumin level (below 4)
• High erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) – over 30 in someone with B symptoms or over 50 for someone without B symptoms

Some of these factors help doctors divide stage I or II Hodgkin lymphoma into favorable and unfavorable groups. These groups can affect how intense the treatment needs to be.

To learn more, see Treating Classic Hodgkin Lymphoma by Stage.