Statistics and outlook for Hodgkin's lymphoma
This page is about statistics and what they can tell us about the outlook for people with Hodgkin's lymphoma. There is information on
Statistics and outlook for Hodgkin’s lymphoma
Outlook means the likely outcome of your disease and treatment. Your doctor may call this your prognosis. With Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the likely outcome depends on how advanced the cancer is when it is diagnosed (the stage). The treatment of Hodgkin's lymphoma is often very successful. Many people are cured of their disease. We have detailed information about the likely outcome of different stages of Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The statistics we use are taken from a variety of sources, including the opinions and experience of the experts who check every section of CancerHelp UK. They are intended as a general guide only. For the more complete picture in your case, you’d have to speak to your own specialist.
We include statistics because people ask for them, but not everyone wishes to read this type of information. Remember you can skip this page if you don't want to read it, you can always come back to it.
How reliable are cancer statistics?
No statistics can tell you what will happen to you. Your cancer is unique. The same type of cancer can grow at different rates in different people. The statistics cannot tell you about the different treatments people may have had, or how that treatment may have affected their prognosis. There are many individual factors that will affect your treatment and your outlook.
This page contains quite detailed information about the survival rates of different stages of Hodgkin's lymphoma (Hodgkin's disease). We have included it because many people have asked us for this. But not everyone who is diagnosed with a cancer wishes to read this type of information. If you are not sure whether you want to know at the moment or not, then perhaps you might like to skip this page for now. You can always come back to it.
Please note: There are no national statistics available for different stages of cancer or treatments that people may have received. The statistics we present here are pulled together from a variety of different sources, including the opinions and experience of the experts that check each section of CancerHelp UK. We provide statistics because people ask us for them. But they are only intended as a general guide and cannot be regarded as any more than that.
There is a section explaining more about the different types of cancer statistics in the CancerHelp UK section About cancer: cancer statistics: incidence, survival and mortality. Unless you are very familiar with medical statistics, it might help to read this before you read the statistics below.
Remember - ‘5 year survival’ is a term doctors use. It does not mean you will only live 5 years. It relates to the proportion of people in research studies who were still alive 5 years after diagnosis. Doctors follow what happens to people for 5 years after treatment in any research study. This is because there is only a small chance that Hodgkin's lymphoma will come back more than 5 years after treatment. They do not like to say these people are cured because there is that small chance. So the term ‘5 year survival’ is used instead.
The treatment of Hodgkin's lymphoma is often very successful. Many people are cured of their disease. Overall, about 80 out of every 100 people (80%) diagnosed in England and Wales will live for at least 5 years after diagnosis.
As with many other types of cancer, the outcome depends on how advanced your cancer is when it is diagnosed. In other words, the stage of your cancer.
Early stage Hodgkin's lymphoma means stage 1 or 2 disease. Between 91 and 94 out of every 100 people (91 to 94%) diagnosed with early stage Hodgkin's lymphoma will live for at least 5 years.
With the more advanced stage 3 and 4 Hodgkin's lymphoma between 59 and 90 out of every 100 people (59 to 90%) will live for at least 5 years.
Even if Hodgkin's lymphoma comes back after it has first been treated, it can often be treated successfully again, perhaps with a stem cell transplant. It is slightly less likely to be cured if it has come back, but treatment can still often keep it at bay for long periods (years) at a time.
Reliability of statistics
No statistics can tell you what will happen to you. Your cancer is unique. The same type of cancer can grow at different rates in different people for example.
The statistics are not detailed enough to tell you about the different treatments people may have had. And how that treatment may have affected their prognosis. Some treatments may help people to live longer as well as relieving symptoms. There are many individual factors that will determine your treatment and prognosis. If you are fit enough to have treatment, you are likely to do better than average, particular if your cancer is more advanced.
People treated at centres where clinical trials are taking place tend to do better. This is almost certainly because that is where the most expertise is concentrated - research is more likely to take place in specialist centres. For those in the trials, it may be partly to do with having a closer eye kept on them by their doctors than they might if not in a trial - more scans and blood tests for example.
But it might also be something to do with morale. You may feel more positive if you are taking part in a trial because it is more obvious to you that something is being done to help you. There is more about clinical trials in CancerHelp UK. To search our clinical trials database for trials that are recruiting people with Hodgkin's lymphoma, pick 'Hodgkin's' from the drop down menu of cancer types.
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