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Treasury;Office for National Statistics

Answer

Mr. Havard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the life expectancy is of a patient with multiple myeloma. [215824] Mr. Timms: I have been asked to reply. The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply. Letter from Colin Mowl to Mr. Dai Havard, dated 16 February 2005: The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question concerning what is the life expectancy of a patient with multiple myeloma. I am replying in his absence. [215824] Data on life expectancy for patients with specific types of cancer are not available. Survival data are calculated as the proportion of patients still alive at a given period after diagnosis. The latest available one- and five-year survival rates for multiple myeloma in England and Wales are for adult patients (aged 15-99 years) diagnosed during 1996-99 and followed up to 31 December 2001. These figures are given in the attached table. One- and five-year age-standardised 1 relative survival rates (percentage) for adult patients (aged 15-99 years) diagnosed with multiple myeloma2 during 1996-99 3, England and Wales _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Percentage Number of patients4 One-year survival Five-year survival Men 5,300 60 23 Women 4,754 62 23 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 As cancer survival varies with age at diagnosis, rates have been age standardised (directly age standardised to the 1986-90 cancer patients population) to control for changes in the age profile of cancer patients over time. 2 International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD- 10) code C90. 3 Complete five-year follow-up was available only for those diagnosed in 1996. For patients diagnosed in later years the most up-to-date estimates of shorter-term survival were used in this analysis of survival rates. 4 Eligible patients included in the survival analysis. The criteria for excluding patient records are given in Health Statistics Quarterly 2000; 6: 71-80, for example where the registration was of a second (different) primary cancer: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/ downloads/theme health/HSQ6Book.pdf Source: Office for National Statistics. Available on the National Statistics website: http://www. statistics.gov.uk/statbase/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=7899

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

431 c168W;431 c170-1W; 215824

Session

2004-05

Subjects

Cancer Diseases Life expectancy

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk