Abstract
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and plasma cell myeloma (PCM) have markedly higher incidences in Western countries compared with Asian countries. To track the change of incidence in Korea, we investigated the 12-year incidence and compared findings with national cancer databases in Taiwan and the United States (US). The age-standardized incidence rates (ASRs) of CLL and PCM in Korea during 1999–2010 were 0.13/100 000 and 1.23/100 000. The annual percentage change (APC) in the incidence rates were 4.17% for CLL and 4.68% for PCM. These increasing trends were similar findings to Taiwan. In the US, the ASRs of CLL and PCM were 3.21/100 000 and 3.97/100 000. The APC of CLL and PCM incidence rate were 0.68% and 0.50%. The incidence rates of CLL in Korea gradually increased during the study period, while those of PCM showed a steeper ascent. In contrast, the incidence rates of CLL and PCM in the US appear to be stable.
Authors’ contributions
Seung Jun Lee analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript. Hwei-Fang Tien and Hyeon Jin Park provided the data. Jung-Ah Kim participated in the data analysis and co-wrote the manuscript. Dong Soon Lee designed the study and revised the manuscript.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by (1) a grant from the Korean Health Technology R&D Project, Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (HI12C0169) and (2) the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (NRF-2014R1A2A1A10052286).
Potential conflict of interest
Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this article at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/suppl/10.3109/10428194.2015.1068307.