Survival from multiple myeloma in England and Wales up to 2001

Multiple myeloma is an uncommon neoplasm of plasma cells affecting mainly the elderly; it is rare under the age of 50 years. Each year in England and Wales, approximately 1800 cases are registered in men (1.5% of all malignancies) and 1500 in women (1.2% of all malignancies). Incidence has increased steadily since the 1980s in both sexes in many countries, including England and Wales (Coleman et al, 1993; Quinn et al, 2001). Incidence is slightly higher in men, and it has risen by approximately 12% in both sexes since the mid-1980s to reach 6.1 per 100 000 per year in men and 5.5 in women by 1999. No marked socioeconomic gradient in incidence has previously been reported in England and Wales, but the most deprived fifth of the population provides a striking exception to the overall trend in the 1990s: incidence rates in this group increased very little in either sex, and by 1999, annual incidence was 20–25% lower than in the other four deprivation groups (4.5 and 4 per 100 000 in men and women, respectively).