Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia - The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

etween herbicides used in Vietnam and CLL. For Veterans with Agent Orange
exposure, this may provide additional VA benefits.
First-degree relatives of patients with CLL are three to four times more likely to
develop CLL than people who do not have first-degree relatives with the disease.
However, the risk is still small. For example, the 60-year-old sibling or child of
someone with CLL would have three to four chances in 10,000 of developing the
disease, compared with the one chance in 10,000 for a 60-year-old person without
a family history of the disease.
For information on studies about two or more relatives with a hematologic
malignancy, please visit www.LLS.org/diseaseregistries.
Incidence. CLL is more common in people who are 60 years and older (see
Figure 1). The incidence of the disease increases from less than one per 100,000 in
individuals aged 40 to 44 years to more than 30 per 100,000 in individuals aged 80
and older.
Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia: Age-Specific Incidence Rates (2004-2008)
Incidence (per 100,000)
36
33
30
27
24
21
18
15
12
9
6
3.3
3
1.8
0 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
0.1 0.2 0.6