Management of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in older adults

Incidence Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) is currently the fifth most common malignancy in women and the sixth most common in men in the United States. It is estimated that approximately 35,450 men and 30,670 women will be diagnosed with NHL in 2008, and 19,160 patients will die from this disease in 2008. Over the last 2 decades, the incidence of NHL has been increasing across all adult age groups, rising by as much as 8–10 percent per year. Specifically, the incidence is rising in patients aged over 60 years. Among U.S. men, the incidence of NHL ranged from 13.1 per 100,000 in people aged 40–44 years to 51.2 per 100,000 in people aged 60–64 years and 133 per 100,000 in people aged 80–84 years. This increasing incidence is relevant in the elderly population; though patients aged over 65 years represent 13 percent of the population, 53 percent of all new cases occur in this age group. The median age of patients at diagnosis of NHL is 67 years. With the population over 75 years and 85 years tripling and doubling, respectively, by 2030, the occurrence of NHL in this older patient population will pose an increasing problem.