Long-term survival of patients diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma after a previous malignancy

An increased risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) has been observed in the survivors of several malignancies. Survival for patients with primary NHL has improved in the 1990s and early 21st century, but population-based survival data for patients diagnosed with NHL after a prior malignancy are lacking. We estimated trends in age-specific 5- and 10-year relative survival of NHL patients with prior malignancy in the United States from 1990-1994 to 2000-2004 using the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program database. Period analysis of survival was employed to disclose recent developments with minimum delay. Five- and 10-year relative survival has strongly improved for NHL patients with prior malignancy between 1990-1994 and 2000-2004, from 38.0 to 54.1% and 24.4 to 41.0%, respectively. Despite a strong increase in relative survival over time, patients with prior malignancies continued to have a worse prognosis compared with those with no prior malignancy.