What Does the Five-Year Survival Rate Mean?
Survival rates show the percentage of people with a certain type of leukemia who survive for a certain period of time after they are diagnosed. A 5-year survival rate refers to people who live 5 years after they are diagnosed. These are the people it includes. • Those who are free of disease • Those who have few or no signs or symptoms of leukemia • Those who are having treatment for leukemia Many people with CLL live much longer than 5 years after diagnosis. Because the statistics we have for 5-year rates now are based on people diagnosed and initially treated more than 5 years ago, it’s possible that the outlook could be more favorable today. That’s because of improvements in treatment. Survival rates are based on large groups of people. They cannot be used to predict what will happen to a particular person. No 2 people are exactly alike, and treatment and responses to treatment vary greatly.
