Long-term trends in the clinical outcomes of patients with acute myeloid leukemia: a population-based real-world data analysis using the Osaka Cancer Registry

We evaluated the survival patterns for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients registered in the Osaka Cancer Registry from 1975 to 2017. During this period, 9706 patients were diagnosed with AML, with a median age of 60 years (range, 0–100). Patients were grouped by age (≤ 20, 21–40, 41–60, 61–70, and ≥ 71) and the year of their diagnosis (1975–1989, 1990–2001, 2002–2010, and 2011–2017). The overall survival (OS) rates of patients of ≤ 60 years of age improved significantly from the period 1975–1989 up to 1990–2001. However, there was a stagnation from 2002–2010 to 2011–2017. In terms of non-acute promyelocytic leukemia patients of > 60 years of age, the improvement of OS was limited during a very long period. In conclusion, the clinical outcome of patients with AML dramatically improved from 1975 to 2001. However, our dataset revealed stagnation in the improvement since 2002. Novel treatment options are needed to further improve the survival of elderly patients.