About 15% of all leukemia is CML. Most of them are adults, with an average age of diagnosis of 64 years. Around 50% of cases of CML are in people of age 64 or above. CML is very rare in children.
The 5-year survival rate reveals the percentage of people who live at least five years after the cancer is found. The 5-year survival rate of people having CML depends on the phase of the disease, the response to treatment, and other biologic characteristics of the CML.
CML treatment research has been rapid, with several drug approvals in the last two decades. It is noteworthy that many of the new drugs for CML work well. The survival rates are steadily rising with the help of better drugs. Mainly due to the recent scientific advances in targeted treatments like imatinib (Gleevec), approved in 2001, the 5-year survival rate for CML has more than tripled from 22% for people diagnosed in the mid-1970s to 72%. One of the studies where the patients consistently taking the drug imatinib found that 90% lived at least five years. It must be noted that statistics on the survival rates for people with CLL are mere estimates and not accurate numbers.
