Overall survival time in adult patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Objective. To estimate and to compare against other series, the overall survival time (OST) in patients with diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), cared for and followed-up at a tertiary-care hospital in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, between January 1995 to December 1999. Material and me-thods. Clinical records of 110 patients aged 14 years or older, were identified and reviewed. Age, sex, ALL subtypes, follow-up time, OST and mortality rates were the analyzed variables. Inferential statistics, including parametric and nonparame-tric tests and its 95% confidence intervals (95%CI), were used when appropriate. Six months periods, the median survival time (MST), and the five-years OST using Kaplan-Meier methods (K-M) for ALL as a group and for its subtypes, were calculated. Results. The median age of ALL patients was 19 years. Male gender was more affected (68%) than female gender. One to 55 months was the followed-up time, being the fo-llowed-up mean time 16.9 +/- 12.1 months (95%CI 14.6 to 19.18). The SMT (K-M) was 22.8 months, although 12 months, 55 months and sixty months OST was 70%, 11% and zero percent, respectively, being during all the followed-up time always unfavorable to male gender. Mortality rate was 53%, and male was again the most affected one. L2-ALL was the most frequent subtype, having the least mortality rate (38%) between subtypes (p = 0.012) because its OST was better than for L1 and L3 subtypes. Conclusions. In ALL adult patients, mortality rate was higher having 0% OST, at 60 months.